The choices we make
by Gelasia
Summary: Once, there existed an evil that could not be destroyed. It was locked away and forgotten. The rangers are called forth to defeat this evil.. but which rangers would that be? (TommyKim)
1. Reunion

Whoa! A power rangers fic! I've never written one, and I haven't seen power rangers in.. forever, so this is sort of an A/U fic since most of the characterization and history of rangers I got from fanfiction, not episode summaries. *grin* Tommy/Kim fic.. enjoy.  
  
There comes a time in any history when stories of truth, of battles between good, evil and the in-between, slowly dwindles to exaggerated legends. The legends loose all factual truths, they become stories told to teach and entertain. From then on even the legends are forgotten, replaced by newer stories. It is as if those battles of valor did not even exist, unless of course, the battle was unfinished, left for stronger heroes to fight.  
Many battles and wars, quests for peace end, unended. There was once an evil that stained all that it touched. An Evil that could not be dispelled by those brave enough to face it. It could not be destroyed, that much was true, but there was one, with a pure enough heart to encase it. From that point on, it was guarded fiercely, and secretly, until it was forgotten entirely through the path of time. It was left; hidden, unguarded and waiting patiently for a fool to stumble across it, bidding it's time until it could complete what it had set out to do. Universal dominion, destruction and enslavement of all life is quite a popular goal for Evil to try and achieve. And this particular evil, this particular stain upon the universe, this darkness who was anticipating its eventual release patiently, did not have to wait long for his second chance at this goal.  
  
The petite beauty groaned as she slumped against the door of her apartment. The physical motion of trying to get her key out of her purse proved to take far too much energy for the exhausted athlete to undertake, and so she just leaned. She felt someone lean up against the wall next to her, and she didn't need to look over to see who it was. She knew it'd be a tall, dark and handsome man, who was as sweaty, and exhausted as she was.  
"How are we gonna get in?" the new comer grumbled, eyes closed.  
"We don't. We just stay here." The small girl answered.  
"Sounds like a plan. That was the worst practice ever. Schmidt is a sadist, I think he was related to Hitler." Jonathan, the newcomer complained. Kimberly would have nodded, but that would have required movement.  
"Mm." Was all the caramel haired girl could say to show her agreement with that statement.  
"Come on.. we need to get in. I want a shower." Jonathan said, poking his roommate.  
"You have a key too you know." She grunted. The boy was suddenly leaning against her, head against her shoulder and he started whimpering pathetically.  
"Agh get off me, you're gross!" The small gymnast shouted, wanting to shove him off but not finding enough strength to put up a good effort.  
"Come on Kimmieeeee, Just open the doooor.." He whined. Kim rolled her eyes before taking a deep breath to train and make her poor muscles move. She had been a power ranger for gods sake! She had defeated countless monsters with her friends! Unlocking a stupid door should be easy! The ex- pink ranger sighed. She had thought she was in shape then, defeating monsters almost weekly, but it seemed Rita and Zedd couldn't compare with her coach. Her daily workouts were worse than combating against thirty putties by herself. It was a well known fact that the female rangers were the ones to fear, especially if they lost their tempers or were ovulating, but even those types of days of rangering couldn't compare to her workouts now. Her body was a lean mean gymnast machine. It had been almost two years since she had left Angel Grove, and she missed it more than she could say. She had kept in touch with a few of the rangers, namely those whom she was closest to. Trini - though she was still in Switzerland - and Aisha especially.  
Kim referred to the breakup between her and Tommy as 'It," with a capital I. She knew it how much it had hurt him, she knew how much it had hurt her, and she knew that it must have been especially rough having have had to deal with it publicly. Kimberly had known what she was doing. When Rocky had sent over a picture of all of the rangers after a remarkably satisfying battle, and Kim could clearly see the tender affection between the white and pink rangers. it fell into place. It seemed to her depressed and lonely heart that the white and pink were just meant to be, and in giving up her rangerdom she had to give up something else too. Later when she was more settled in she realized what a complete and utter idiot she had been in doubting Tommy, in doubting herself, in doubting everything they had meant to each other, but by that time it was too late. There had never been that 'other guy' and Kimberly's affection for Tommy was anything but brotherly. (Although John pointed out that even if it was brotherly love there was always incest, to which she threw her shoe at his head.)  
She had been devastated, but she wasn't allowed time to properly get over her heartbreak due to Pan Globals It had taken a lot of time, and a lot of forbidden pints of dulche de leche ice cream to get her back to her normal optimistic self, but she was basically back to normal. Jonathan had been the best friend ever, and she loved him to death, he was up there with Jason in coolest guy friends. He had spent more hours with her while she bawled her eyes out, offered more tissues and held her more times than she could count. The two loved each other dearly, finding that they had a lot in common, and found they were all each other had in Florida.  
After the Globals she had stayed in Florida, applying to a university there, and continuing her gymnastics. She was too angry at herself to want to return home. She was too afraid to go see him happy with Kat. She was too afraid to see everyone staring at her in anger, in hatred. She had passed from the "hurt" stage to the "bittersweet' stage, though she hid it exceedingly well from Jonathan, who had been in Pan Globals with the pink ranger, and knew how deep the feelings Kim had for Tommy were. "And still are." Kim thought bitterly, finally gaining the strength to jab the key in the lock and walk in.  
Kimberly Harte wished with every fiber of her being she could stop loving Tommy Oliver. She wished that she could just get over the man. She hated how much her heart still started to race when she remembered him, how a small smile would curl onto her lips before she remembered how she had treated him. Something about the man just made him impossible to not love. She'd remember all of the presents he'd bring her, the things he'd do just to see her smile. It was so hard to put the wonderful, gentle Tommy with the one who had just suddenly disappeared completely from her life. Even John had admitted that 'that Oliver guy' would be hell to try and get over. Jonathan had also said that Tommy had one of the cutest butts he'd ever seen, and Kim tended to agree but that really wasn't the point, nor a good thing to say about an ex.. right?  
"Oh! Kimmie! This came for you today. Who is Al Faphive?" Jonathan asked, tossing Kimberly a small package.  
"What?" The gymnast asked, eyes widening in surprise as she looked at the name on the return address, she bit back a small smile and roll of her eyes, understanding coming into her mind.  
"Alpha 5.. " Kim murmured.  
"Who was he? You never told me about anyone named Al." The other gymnast accused, sitting down next to Kim, eyeing her curiously. Kimberly swallowed.  
"He was.. a dear friend of mine, I haven't heard of him in ages." The ex-ranger replied before rolling her eyes at her roommate's interest, "Sorry John, I think he's straight. Definitely not your type." Jonathan shrugged nonchalantly, interest in "Al Faphive" disappearing entirely. Kim grinned and shook her head.  
"It was worth a try right? Always interested in new meat." Kim gave herself a pat on the back on keeping a straight face to that one. She wondered how Alpha 5 would take it to know a gay man was interested.. come to think of it.. the small robot did take much too much interest in those star wars tapes, especially C3-P0.. The power ranger shook her head, wondering how John had managed to corrupt her so badly. How many of the people theorized about a robot's sexual preference?  
Kim didn't open the package until her roommate had gone to take a shower, and then immediately ripped the thing open, frowning as a small typed letter slipped out along with a small necklace on a leather chord. The pendant was a large circle with a bonsai tree in the center, there was a line dissecting the circle, behind the tree. The ranger raised an eyebrow. She had a strange feeling the metal wasn't one you could find on earth, and she had a niggling feeling that it wasn't just an ordinary present. Her eyes flickered back to the note in her lap before lifting it up.  
  
"Kimberly, we need your help. We need all of the power rangers. The universe is in danger, you must come to the command center as soon as you can. The pendant is a transporter, put it on and speak the word "Shaolin." Please hurry! "  
  
She didn't have time to even think about what the danger could be that would possibly need her help when Alpha already had the current power rangers to help, because Jonathan walked out of the bathroom, classically dressed, looking damnably hot. Kim smiled as she watched him primp in front of the full length mirror that served as the door to the closet. She was glad that she had had Tommy, otherwise she would have had the same problem that all of her female friends did, crushes on the gay man. It was hard to resist those warm blue eyes set in the pale face accented by raven black curls that he took great pains to keep luscious. The boy had been asked to be a model countless times but he always refused, thinking that the career would be far too hard to pull off, along with gymnastics and college.  
"I thought you were tired."  
"I was revived. Take a shower and let's go dancing!" He said eagerly, twirling over to her. Kim shook her head.  
"Sorry Fred Astaire, I can't go guy hunting with you, something came up. Besides, you always take me to a gay bar and I always get hit on by the wrong gender."  
"Something from Al?" The extraordinary handsome boy asked, sitting next to Kim and throwing an arm around her shoulders.  
"Yeah.. I need to go home right away, so I'm gonna check out flights back to Angel Grove, tonight if possible." She said, hoping that he didn't detect that she was lying. Even after all of these years she really stunk at lying, luckily though, Jonathan had gone back to the mirror, posing for it.  
"Want me to come?"  
"And risk you having a grudge against me because you gave up a chance to get laid? I think not!" The girl exclaimed, Jonathan grinned.  
"You know I'd give up one night for my roomie. Two, is a different story. Are you sure you don't want me to drop you at the airport? Hell, go with you to this precious Angel Grove? I'm curious to meet these people.."  
"I'm sure."  
"Think you might see Tommy there?" He asked softly. Kimberly's eyes widened, she hadn't thought of that. Oh god.. at a rangers meeting he was bound to be there..  
"Oh God..what do I do?" She whispered, Jonathan rubbed her back reassuringly.  
"If you see him, let him make the first step, just be polite, not harsh rash and don't be affected by anything he says. You are a strong beautiful woman now, one I'd be proud to go out with if I swung that way. You're a great lady with a heart the size of Texas and you're not going to let some little snot with a great ass make you cry."  
".. Thanks John." She said, Jonathan smiled, gave her a quick kiss and was out the door.  
"Hope all is well Kimmie! Call me! If you're not back in a week I'm taking a holiday to Angel Grove!" He called as he twirled out the door, singing as he walked down the hall.  
"DON'T TURN OUR APPARTMENT INTO A LOVE MOTEL." She yelled after him before frowning at the necklace that lay innocently next to her. The girl carefully put it on her dresser before showering, and changing into black athletic pants, sneakers and a light pink tank top. She tied her favorite sweatshirt around her hips and threw on sneakers. Sore muscles forgotten her gaze turned back to the small pendant. She clutched it in her hand, and making sure she had at least two hair ties around her wrist (they were always going missing) she closed her eyes.  
"Shaolin." She felt a warmth radiate from the pendant in her hands, spreading through her in a flash, when the girl opened her eyes she nearly shrieked. This certainly was not the command center.  
"I get the feeling I'm not in Kansas any more." She whispered, staring at the blue pearl hanging beautifully before her eyes. Kim only stared at the Earth for a moment before her eyes turned to her location. She looked down and nearly shrieked as she saw nothing but distant stars. The girl frowned, kneeling down to touch where her feet were. There was a platform of some sort, she wasn't floating, it was just invisible? She had to be encased in some sort of invisible bubble - enough years with Billy had taught her more than she ever wanted to know about space, and she knew it was impossible to be standing here for more than thirty seconds without meeting a rather gruesome death, it was also impossible to hear sound, but that scientific law had proven to be broken as well considering she could hear herself breathing.  
"Hello?" She called out, looking around at the rather vast emptiness. There was a gasp of surprise behind her and the girl spun around, only to see an entirely too familiar highly missed figure standing in front of her.  
  
"..Jason?" She asked, shocked. The former red ranger spun around, eyes widening as he saw one of his oldest friends.  
"Kim!" He exclaimed, pulling her into a warm hug. "Any idea of what we're doing in space when scientifically we shouldn't be alive, nor able to speak?" He asked, after pulling away after a few moments. It was obvious he remembered some of Billy's random factoids about space as well.  
"I missed you too." She said with a small sarcastic grin. Jason shook his head and mussed up her hair.  
"You know I'd miss my little sister. "  
"Don't Mess with the hair!"  
"This isn't the command center, why would Zordon and Alpha transport us to space?" A confused voice asked, Jason and Kim looked over to see Billy. Kim immediately squealed, releasing Jason to hug the sorely missed friend.  
"Hi Kim." He said with a grin. "hi Jason. Apparently you two got something from Zordon as well."  
"Actually my letter came from Al Faphive." Kim corrected, "Alpha has absolutely no creativity."  
"Well he is a robot. What can you expect? He's rather human in other aspects.." The red ranger said. Kimberly remembered earlier thoughts about the robot's sexual preference and decided to not reply to the rhetorical question.  
"A reunion in space, Zordon knows how to make a splash." A new voice said, the only female thus far, ran to go hug Rocky.  
"Hi Rocko."  
"Kim, we missed you. What does Florida have that Angel Grove doesn't?"  
"Low house insurance." She said immediately. Rocky made a face.  
"Just because those stupid monsters destroy buildings every time they attack, doesn't mean the insurance companies have to go all ballistic, don't they realize that these monsters give the city character?"  
"Apparently someone's still bitter about not finding a cheap apartment." Aisha said sarcastically, having just shown up to hear Rocky's gripe.  
And so it continued, former rangers popping up like daisies, until finally Kat, Adam, Zach, and Trini had all appeared. After long exchanges of hugs, accusations of not keeping in touch, and comments on the very strange meeting place, the topics dwindled to two. Why this meeting was called to order, and where was their green and white ranger?  
"Even for things that say 'come as soon as possible' Tommy manages to come late." Trini said, evoking laughter from everyone save one rather nervous first pink ranger. She wasn't sure what would happen once she saw Tommy again. Kim heard John's voice in her head, and took a deep breath. She noted Kat eyeing her strangely, and frowned, she supposed it was normal for the current girlfriend to feel somewhat threatened by an ex, although in this case it seemed ridiculous.  
Finally, when Kimberly thought she might burst from impatience, when the rest had separated into tiny groups to chat, reminiscing and theorizing about what this meeting was about he appeared - right in front of her. Tall, strong, gorgeous as ever. Her heart started to pound so loudly she was sure everyone else could hear it too. Her mouth had gone dry, wondering why even after so long he had to look so good. Her eyes locked with his. Those eyes, normally soft and friendly turned hard as he realized whom he was looking at. Kimberly stiffened. "Oh God.. this'll be harder than I thought.. where's John when you need him.." The original pink ranger squared her shoulders, and took another deep breath, trying to calm down her nerves.  
"Hello Tommy."  
"Hello Kimberly."  
"Tommy! Finally you showed up! Any idea as to why we're all here?" Rocky asked, as the group of eight other people joined the ex-couple. Tommy silently thanked Rocky for helping him look away from the vision in front of him. God Kim looked good. She was as petite as ever, and her eyes still held the same brightness he remembered, her hair was still as glossy, and her mouth was still as kissable. His heart wrenched at the thought of the letter she had sent him and he shook his head. He loved Kat. He was over Kim. Kim deserved none of his attention. She was not a part of his life. Time to return back at the problem at hand.  
"No, I don't understand why they didn't just mention it at the command center."  
"Because we were afraid of spies." A voice called. The group turned to stare at a very familiar floating head. He frowned at them. "Rangers, it's a most distressing reason I have called you here. Old and new. A council of guardians of the universe has asked me to plead their case to you. It is known far and wide of your deeds protecting Earth, it is also known how some of the most gruesome figures in history have met their downfall at your hands. It is for that reason the council begs of you to rid them of a final evil - one that has just re-awakened from a sleep that lasted eons. Its name is Aruendywar, and it is worse than any other enemy you have or ever will face."  
"What is it?" Kat asked curiously.  
"I don't know." Zordon replied truthfully, shaking his head, "next to nothing is known about it. All the council knows is that this evil has been trapped for billions of years, but we do not know how it was trapped in the first place, or why it wasn't destroyed. They have begged us to help them." Aisha, Kat, Rocky, Adam, Tommy and Billy shared a look.  
"We'll do it." The leader replied at once.  
"Not so fast Tommy.. there is a reason as to why the originals are here as well." Zordon replied, eyes gazing fondly upon Jason, Kim, Trini and Zach. "But first I must ask if you four are also willing to help."  
"Of course Zordon. Anything." Jason said with a shrug, speaking for all of them. The giant head smiled appreciatively.  
"We're all going to be power rangers?" Zach asked with a frown. Zordon's face fell.  
"No. A tournament. I'm sorry to have to do this, but you must compete against each other. I must know who is the best of the best when it comes to combative skills. I love you all and cannot choose myself, so I have to test you. The five not chosen will remain on Earth, where you have an equally important job" He murmured softly. The rangers looked at each other warily before all of them slowly nodded in agreement. It made sense, if the good of the universe was at stake here it seemed only logical for them to want the best.  
"Good, in a week's time we will begin.. in the meantime.. I welcome you all back to Angel Grove." The head disappeared, and in a moment, that pocket of space was yet again empty as the teenagers found themselves in the Angel Grove Park.  
Kimberly's eyes settled on the lake and she smiled softly. So many memories about this park. So many battles, so much laughter.. if ever there was a place in Angel Grove that made her the happiest - and the saddest it was here. Tommy stared at his ex, eyes flicking to where she was looking and frowned, swallowing a lump in his throat, as he realized he was remembering the same things she probably was. Damn it.. why did she have to come back? Why'd she have to do this to him! Tommy ran an annoyed hand through his hair, he had thought he was over the gymnast, but now after seeing her again, his heart was confused. His eyes looked over to Kat who was talking to Billy and he made his decision. She was the one for him. Kim had blown it, it didn't matter if his heart still raced when he looked at her, it didn't matter that his breath caught every time she caught his eye. Kimberly Harte had blown it, he couldn't trust her. He couldn't love her. He would just pretend she wasn't around. That was final. 


	2. Naughty Sex Kittens

I updated and I didn't even realize I forgot to put author's notes! Thank you all for the reviews! That means a lot to me! It makes me happi! This part is a little perverted, and I hope that all the chars aren't too OOC. I'm just having far too much fun being a pervert. I'm also having far too much fun with Jonathan. I was thinking of trying to update each week. But who knows how long that'll actually last.. oh.. and as for a disclaimer.. well.. check out my little author summary bio thing. You'll find.. THE ULTIMATE DISCLAIMER there. *grin* Hope you all enjoy! Keep those reviews coming! Or I might be late on updates.. hehe.  
  
Chapter 2  
  
"Jonathan - the wanton sex God and Kimberly - the naughty sex kitten aren't available right now - we're probably in bed and I can tell ya we probably aren't alone! If you want a good time please leave your sexual preference, name, phone number, social security number, and credit card number and we'll get back to you as soon as we can." *beep*  
"Jonathan..I'm going to pretend that that answering machine message doesn't exist - and it had better be fixed by the time I get back. But I wanted to invite you to spend a week in Angel Grove.. see where your little sex kitten grew up. How about it? Sunny Cali..call me back, I'm staying with Aisha, you'll find her home number and cell number in my address book and do NOT call ANY of my male friends and scare them or I will cut off your male organ used specifically for thinking and I don't mean your head!" With that Kimberly hung up and turned around, only to face a very confused Asian friend, who was also staying with Aisha, staring at her.  
"sex kitten?"  
"erk.. I was calling my room mate and inviting him to come to Angel Grove." Kim explained face starting to burn.  
"Him?" Trini asked, eyes sparkling with mischief. Kim punched her arm. Trini and Aisha both knew about It. Trini had simply told her that it had been a rancid mistake that shouldn't have been made, but probably was for the best. The relationship wouldn't have lasted in the long run if it couldn't handle distance. Aisha hadn't mentioned it at all, understanding that there was something smelled funny about the whole thing. It was a forbidden topic. Both yellow rangers secretly wished that Tommy and Kim were together. It had been special, different than the relationship between him and Kat. If ever there was true love, it was what was between Kimberly and Tommy. Both also knew that Kim still loved him, and so it was perfectly fine to tease her about a male roommate.. although she did have some explaining to do.  
"What's this about a male room mate now?" Aisha demanded, walking into the living room. At the two gazes of the two yellow rangers Kimberly collapsed on the couch. It was great being back with her closest friends really, but they were going to end up forcing her into the Happy Angel Grove Acres Mental institution. But before she could explain the full context of why she was living with a guy who called her a sex kitten, the phone rang. All three girls dove for it, but Trini ended up victorious. One could see her face fall drastically as she realized it was just Jason inviting them over to the Youth Center to reminisce and work out. The former yellow ranger accepted and hung up before giving Kim a look that said;  
"I'll have you yet my little pretty! And your little dog too!" Kim just rolled her eyes before grabbing the coat she had borrowed from Aisha(It was strange wearing yellow for once..) and the three walked out the door.  
  
He could feel it when she walked in the door. All of his senses had suddenly heightened and he knew even before the little bell on the door jangled in welcome that she was walking in. Although that might have been due to the fact that Jason had said;  
"Look, here come the girls." As Aisha's car pulled up, but Tommy tried not to dwell on that. He started lifting weights again, only to almost drop them as he heard what Kimberly said as she walked in.  
"I AM NOT A NAUGHTY SEX KITTEN!" Kim shouted giving her the unwanted and undivided attention of the entire youth center. Kids eyes were wide at hearing the 's' word that they were only brave enough to spell out. Males in the near vicinity eyed the petite girl with some interest, the females just wondered what was wrong with the girl. Trini and Aisha did little to hide the howls of laughter as Kimberly's face turned bright red and she wondered if it was possible to sink into the floor and die. The two yellow rangers refused to let that happen as they lead her over to the ranger's table where Adam, Rocky, and Billy were already sitting. Zach, Jason, and Tommy were working out, Kat had said she needed to get some work done but would join them later. Everytime Kim had tried to tell the two yellow rangers that her roommate was about as straight as a sphere something had interrupted her; whether it was her friends, an idiot driver, or arriving at the youth center. If she were superstitious she would think there was something keeping her from telling them that John and her shared a lot in common - including taste in men.  
"What's this about being a naughty sex kitten now? Kim do you have something you want to tell us?" Rocky asked, leaning forward in interest as he stole a handful of fries off of Adam, grinning lecherously. Aisha offered a grin of her own as Kim's head hit the table with a loud thud. Billy patted her back comfortingly.  
"Our dear sweet innocent Kimberly has a roommate. A male room mate.. " Trini said triumphantly.  
"One that calls her his sex kitten." Aisha added.  
"Kimberly Kimberly Kimberly what are we going to do with you?" Rocky tsked, shaking his head. 'Unless you'd like to come over later and-" Rocky eyed the two girls giving him glares of death and promptly shut up. "Just ignore me! Heh heh.."  
"It's not like that! John's not like that! He's ga-"  
"Oho! His name is John!" Trini crowed.  
"We're not sleeping together!" The pink ranger wailed in exasperation, frowning at all of the looks of disbelief surrounding her. "Billy! Defend me from these perverts! You know I wouldn't-" She was cut off as a cell phone rang - Aisha's - who picked up.  
"Hello?" The girl said, still smiling at this fun new game of "Teasing Kim to death." The smile turned positively evil as the person on the other end started talking.  
"John? Yes, she's sitting right here...you want to speak to her? Alright, first you have to answer one question-" Aisha was interrupted as Kim leaned over the table and snatched the phone out of her hands.  
"John?"  
"Kimmie my darling. I got your message and don't worry I didn't call any of your male friends.."  
"Doesn't matter, they're all at the youth center anyways."  
"I know." The boy said and she could see him with a slightly all knowing smirk on his face.  
"JONATHAN!"  
"Kidding kidding! Kimmie you need to relax darling, just get rid of all that tension, just let go.."  
"John, I'm not tense. I'm fine."  
"I'm not. This Florida weather is not good for my health, I pulled a few sick days while I get over" and here the boy coughed rather well considering she knew he was acting, "this little bug I caught. So off to AngelGrove I go!"  
"You're coming? That's great! When?"  
"Tomorrow, two o'clock, flying united baby, I'm so glad that guy I met yesterday works at the airport. He hooked me up real fast.."  
"Yeah I'm sure that's not all he did."  
"Oh Kimmie you're cute. Pick me up at the airport with your little friends.. just the cute ones mind you."  
"They're all cute... you'd especially like Jason. He has a nice.." Kimberly looked up to see all of her friends at the table watching this half of the conversation in rapt fascination and cleared her throat.  
"Heh.. see you tomorrow John. Bring my clothes would you?"  
"How you could forget your clothes is beyond me.."  
"John."  
"Okay okay okay. See you soon hon, miss you! love you! Oh, and I know you love me because I talked to Coach who decided we both needed time off and our spring break is free for us. Be so glad this emergency happened right before spring break."  
"Missing you. Love you too. Ciao." And with that Kimberly hung up and handed the phone to Aisha, who wasn't paying attention to Kim, but whose eyes were fixed behind the pink ranger.  
"John?" A voice asked, a voice that nearly chilled her to the bone with its lack of emotion. She craned her neck to look at him.  
"Tommy." She said with a sigh. "It's not what you thi-"  
"You don't have to explain anything to me Kim.. it's not a big deal." He said with an air of finality. "Hey look Kat made it." And with that he walked over to the pretty blond and kissed her rather soundly. Kim gave a barely noticeable flinch before shrugging it off. She didn't care. She reminded herself over and over again that it didn't matter who he kissed, it didn't affect her.. it didn't matter that this was killing her. She deserved it. It just. didn't. matter. Kim didn't notice that her hand had been balled into a very tight fist until Billy put his hand over hers. The girl's head shot over to look at him and he gave her this look of complete understanding, which caused her to smile.  
It had been rough seeing Tommy looking so damn perfect. She knew that they probably had to talk, so that they didn't dance around each other, but she would be the first to admit that she was a coward when it came to matters of her heart. She didn't want to talk, she felt pathetic about him still affecting her but.. She sighed and closed her eyes, grinning as she thought about what John had told her. He understood how this hurt more than anyone, mainly because he had been there.  
"Oh! I need someone to take me to the airport so that I can pick up John. He wants to meet you guys, you'll like him." Kim said brightly, as her brown eyes opened again, only to see a familiar glint in everyone's eyes before it was quickly hidden again. Kim raised an eyebrow, what was going on?  
"I have work." Aisha said.  
"Same here." Rocky added, with a frown, scowling as if it was the worst thing in the universe as he ate the rest of Adam's French fries.  
"I promised I'd spar with Jason pretty much all day." Adam added in before kicking Rocky in the shins. Rocky glared at him.  
"Zordon wanted me to help them look up some things about this new enemy. See if we can discover anything." Billy murmured. Kim frowned thoughtfully, Trini and Zach no longer lived here and thus didn't have the transportation. She also knew that Kat had classes.. that left.. Kim's heart sank into her stomach. Ever so slowly she stood up, willing her legs to move towards Tommy and Kat, who were by the counter, obviously waiting for their order.  
"Tommy.. I have a favor I need to ask you.."  
  
They had been driving in complete silence. Tommy's eyes were always on the road, and every time Kim tried to start conversation, she'd look over to see his stone cold face and loose her nerve.  
"Um.. thanks for driving me." She murmured softly, finally managing to get the courage to say something over the lump in her throat.  
"Anything for a friend." He replied curtly. Kimberly nodded. Shot down. She thought.  
"Of course." And that was all that was said in the trip over and she was pacing as she waited for Jonathan. Kim was sure that the tension was thick enough to be cut with a knife and for that reason, she was ecstatic when she saw a familiar Adonis like figure walk past the security gates. He was wearing khakis, a tight maroon shirt, and shades. Kimberly paid no attention to the looks he was getting from both males and females as she ran over and hugged him. Tommy though, was paying attention to these adoring gazes and feeling sick to his stomach as a surge of jealousy washed over him, as his self-confidence level began to drop. No wonder she had left him..  
"How are you Gorgeous?" Jonathan asked, hugging the gymnast tightly, lifting her easily and twirling around. Kimberly shrieked and thwacked him as he kissed her cheek.  
"Wonderful!" She replied as he slid an arm around her small shoulders as they walked towards Tommy, who looked as if he were at a funeral.  
"So who did you bring for me to meet.."  
"You'll meet everyone else later this evening you social butterfly." Kim told him, elbowing him in the ribs as they stopped in front of the white ranger.  
"Uargh.." Jonathan grunted, "don't make me tickle you." He threatened, she rolled her eyes. Tommy felt sick. Kim, instead of offering a retort to Jonathan, she turned to Tommy.  
"John, this is Tommy - one of my oldest and closest friends. Tommy, this is John - the best room mate a girl could ask for." The two men shook hands, John looking at Tommy as if he were a prime choice of grade A meat, and Tommy looking at John as if he were the Grim Reaper.  
"I am so glad to finally meet you. Kim talked incessantly about her friends in Angel Grove, we could never get the girl to shut up." John said with a warm smile as Tommy grunted in response, turning around and starting to walk  
"Come on.." He mumbled. Kim sighed under her breath and Jonathan shot her an understanding look as they caught up to him. Jonathan walking between the white and expink ranger.  
"So Kimmie darling what was the emergency? How is Al Faphive?" Tommy started in surprise before he glared at the girl, demanding with his eyes to know whether she had told this guy about their secret identities. Kimberly rolled her eyes and gave him a slight shake of her head.  
"Al is fine.. a little paranoid and the emergency? Heh that's the funny thing it was.. It was um.." Kimberly trailed off, racking her brains trying to think of a good lie.  
"A reunion. Al set up a surprise reunion to get us together again, for old times sake." Tommy filled in. Kimberly shot him a thankful look but he didn't even deign to look at her.  
"That sly dog." Jonathan said with a laugh, "but it just means I get to meet all of your hot friends Kim." A small muscle by Tommy's eye twitched. She left him for this jerk? A guy who talked about her friends like that right in front of her? To his surprise the pink ranger only laughed.  
"Well, a lot of them are pretty hot.. and a few are taken, or obsessed with someone but too shy to say anything. I don't think you can weasel your way between that John dear."  
"Weaseling is fun. Don't knock it til you've tried it Kimberly Ann Harte." He admonished before leaning closer, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "Besides, it can lead to threesomes, and lemme tell ya, those are wild." Tommy's fingers curled into a fist, face darkening even more.  
"Stop trying to act as though you know what threesomes are like." She admonished, punching him lightly as they got into the car. Jonathan eyed Tommy's rear end appreciatively as he was getting into the driver's seat, and before Jonathan could help himself, a hand reached out to grope that perfect ass. Tommy actually jumped in the air in shock, but before he could whirl around and give the guy the beating of a lifetime, he had already gotten into the car and restarted up the conversation with Kim.  
"So you think we'll see those power ranger people that they're always talking about on TV?" Jonathan asked. Neither Tommy nor Kimberly gave an indication of nervousness. They had been through this far too many times to do the cliché thing like offer each other looks of apprehension.  
"Perhaps.. they're still active." Kimberly replied.  
"Who the hell decided that super heroes should wear spandex. It's just so damn gross. Although the pink ranger did get that cute little skirt thing. "  
"It does look rather uncomfortable." Kim responded with a small smile.  
"Spandex.. disgusting and beyond my comprehension. It isn't good enough that they have to save the world all the time but they have to do it in spandex as well?"  
"Jonathan's in fashion design." Kimberly explained to Tommy who was trying not to laugh. As much as he thought Jonathan was an obnoxious ass, he did have a point. Spandex was uncomfortable.  
"Now, I think that one could kick a hell of a lot more ass in something soft and flexible.."  
"Like Pajamas." Kimberly added.  
"Oh yeah Kim, I can imagine one of the females in a super hero outfit that consists of fuzzy cloud print pajama bottoms, a white spaghetti strap top and giant dog slippers."  
"And why not?" Kim demanded.  
"Because quite frankly, that's only something you would do, and you are most definitely not a super hero." John retorted. Tommy snorted and Kimberly and Jonathan looked over to him in shock. Tommy just shook his head.  
"Jonathan have you ever seen Kimberly mad?" Tommy asked, keeping his eyes on the road. The gay man shook his head.  
"No.. can't say I have, why?"  
"Ah, that explains exactly why you don't think our Kim could be a super hero." Kim's jaw dropped in shock.  
"I was not that bad!" She exclaimed, glaring at the white ranger. Tommy laughed out loud.  
"Kim you were the scarier than most of the monsters the power rangers had to fight if we caught you on a bad day." He told her. Kimberly shot him an annoyed glare.  
"Jerk." She muttered, punching him in the arm. Tommy finally looked over from the road and offered her a smile - one that reached his eyes. The girl started in surprise before offering him a smile of her own. With that, he turned back to look at the road and Kimberly turned to look at Jonathan who was grinning as if the entire thing was due totally to him. Kimberly had a strange feeling it was.  
Tommy had let her in. He hadn't looked at her, much less smiled at her or spoken to her without a cold tinge to his voice up until this point. The guard had come down a little bit, he had let her in. Jonathan winked at Kimberly, giving her the thumbs up. Nothing else was said during the rest of the trip, but thee was a tiny smile that simply refused to leave Kim's face. 


	3. Tournament

Chapter 3

Kimberly's eyes narrowed as she stared at her opponent. He was as tired as she was, they had been fighting the longest out of anyone, and still a winner was not chosen. The girl quickly wiped the sweat off of her face as her hands flew back into the on guard position. It was two years since she last used martial arts, but her gymnastics gave her an edge no one else had, and martial arts was not something one could easily forget. She was more flexible, stronger than she had been two years ago, and she knew her opponent like no one else - that brought her one weakness against Tommy Oliver. Emotional baggage. She shook her head, clearing her mind of all thoughts save for those on how to fight him. Tommy's battle techniques, psychological tricks, maneuvers washed over her as her muscles tensed, waiting for him to attack. 

It had been six days since Jonathan had flown in. He had immediately taken to her friends, who at first were a bit wary. Zach and Jason had gone into "big brother mode' when they found out that he was Kim's room mate. This was quickly dispelled how ever when Jonathan hit on Rocky in the middle of a conversation the four were having. It had been a joke of course but it had put them a little more at ease. (How is quite beyond Kimberly. Apparently he had been pushed into the big brother ranks. That and Jonathan had assured them that he wouldn't hit on the totally straight men. Especially not friends of Kimmie's ) Tommy had not spoken to Kim during that time, and anytime that she and Jonathan were palling around, he scowled at them in annoyance and almost.. fury. Kim didn't understand, nor did she try to understand. Jonathan kept yelling at her to talk to him. To try and get on speaking terms.. to.. do something. Kimberly just couldn't talk to him when he looked like that. She couldn't face him. Especially not with this tournament hanging over her head. Everyone had been watching everyone else extra carefully. It wasn't that they didn't trust each other, they were just sizing each other up. 

She had been training at night when her thoughts on Tommy had run so rampant she couldn't sleep until she exhausted herself. Zordon hadn't contacted them since the reunion party in space. The command center had been completely silent. All of the rangers were wearing the small necklaces and all were somewhat nervous about this upcoming challenge. Rocky had lost his appetite. Billy had started talking in sentences that didn't need to be translated by Trini. Tommy had started showing up to things on time, even early. 

Friday night, after Jonathan, Aisha, Zach and Rocky had gone clubbing, Kim had left to take a walk in the park, to collect thoughts. She was so wrapped in watching her feet that she nearly walked over the current pink ranger who apparently had also been out for a night of quite reflection. 

"Kat!" 

"Kim. What are you doing out here?" 

"Walking..thinking.. trying not to think" Kimberly murmured softly, smiling at the Australian. 

"Nervous about the lack of information on this bad guy?" Kat asked as the pair began walking again. 

"That and other things." 

"Tommy?" Kat asked softly, "I see how you look at him. You still love him." Kimberly winced before stopping. 

"Kat you know I'd never do anything to-" 

"I know Kim. I know." Kat interrupted, frowning thoughtfully. "To tell the truth.. Tommy and I.. I don't know. I don't think he loves me. I don't think I love him.. at least.. not in the way you love him. He doesn't love me in the way he loves you." 

"That's better isn't it? You and him last. Our relationship didn't." Kimberly said, voice dead. 

"There's nothing there though. There's just.. I don't know. It's like we're just friends. There are no.. nicknames no..outward signs of affection. There's nothing. We never do anything that immediately makes people think we're together. I can count the number of times we've kissed on the fingers of one hand. You guys had romance and passion and affection and understanding. Tommy and I just don't. It's like we don't click." Kat said as they started walking again. Kimberly wasn't exactly sure what to say. 

"I'm sor-" 

"I've been thinking about it for a while, your return didn't do much except help put things into clearer perspective. What's wrong with our relationship. I just don't know if I have the strength to break up with him." The Australian interrupted. "I think it's just that I'm not you, and he still loves you." 

"Have you seen the way he looks at me? He hates me Kat." 

"He wants to hate you. I've seen him look at you when you are too busy to notice. Tommy is in love with you, but you hurt him.. Kim a guy like Tommy can't take a blow like that. His pride is hurt, his heart is hurt.." Kim felt two silent tears track down her face. 

"I'm sorry." 

"I'm not the one that needs to hear that." Kat murmured softly. Kimberly nodded and the two pink rangers continued to walk in silence for a while. Each lost in thought, reflection. 

"Kat?" Kimberly finally asked. 

"Yes?" 

"Why are you being so nice to me?" The gymnast asked looking at her companion. Katherine smiled, throwing an arm around the other girl. 

"Pink rangers have to stick together." 

"Yeah. That's true. We don't get much credit. Just because we're the one ranger that demands a skirt on the spandex thing." Kim replied with a small grin. 

"Who says fashion is a bad thing? Suddenly we're wimpy just because we happen to like to be unique and easily spotted as different from the other rangers?" 

"Exactly! Since when did good fashion sense immediately mean we were brainless ditzes who always had to be rescued instead of doing the rescuing! What's up with that? We make pink spandex look good." 

"Well I wouldn't go that far. I don't think there is anyone who can make pink spandex look good.." The two girls looked at each other and burst out into an uncontrollable fit of giggles. 

"Hey.." Kat finally said, as they caught their breath. 

"What?" 

"If only one of us gets to save the universe this time.. we should promise one another that who ever it is, we'll protect Tommy- we both know he'll be chosen. He's the best of us all, and the most into it." Kim nodded in agreement. 

"Deal. That boy is so headstrong.." Kim started. 

"Oh I know! I seriously think he has this white knight complex. He doesn't realize that he has always had a pink ranger watching his back." 

"I think that's my fault.. although his back is rather fun to watch..." Kim said, blushing. 

"Oh, I know it's your fault. I blame you entirely for this complex of 'rescue the damsel in the pink spandex suit.' " 

"Oh jee. Thanks a ton. That makes me feel loved." Kimberly rolled her eyes. Kat suddenly frowned, face serious. 

"If he suddenly gets a clue, and realizes he should swallow his pride and take you back Kim.. I'm rooting for you. It sounds.. really strange from me but it just seems like you two were meant for each other.." 

" Thanks Kat.." 

"I'm not doing it for you. It's not fair to me. Why should I accept being second best in his eyes?" The Australian demanded. Kimberly laughed, nodding. 

"Thanks just the same." 

"You're welcome. Oh.. but if you break Tommy's heart again…" the blond warned, eyes narrowing. Kimberly shook her head furiously realizing how hard this must be for the current pink ranger. She really did love Tommy. 

'I know." The two girls smiled at each other before each headed in her own separate direction. 

Saturday morning, Kimberly was awake early only to realize that that funny pendant Alpha had sent her was glowing, and warm to the touch. The girl slowly started doing a few stretches, deciding that today must be the day that Zordon was going to have them compete. Her heart was thudding loudly in her chest but she tried to calm herself down by going into the kitchen and pouring a bowl of frosted flakes. The girl had never been able to learn how to cook correctly, and her culinary skills thus far included the following; coffee, cereal, toast and instant ramen. She watched as a groggy Trini walked in, slumped onto a stool as her head landed on the table. Kimberly could barely make out a request that sounded a lot like "coffee now or die." The ex-ranger sighed and poured the girl a cup of coffee. As Trini was finishing up her coffee Aisha came through the front door and eyed them. 

"Jeez you guys are up early. I thought I was the only one who got up at this hour." 

"Make me do it again and I hurt both of you. Be more quiet next time you wake up Kim." Trini grumbled. Aisha and Kim shared a look and shook their heads. Trini was not a morning person. 

"I wish I could sleep in late. Pan Global training has turned me into an early riser." Kimberly explained with a sigh. 

"I think today's the day.. our pendants are glowing." Aisha murmured, picking up her own and looking at her two friends. Kimberly stared at the other two pendants lying on the counter. 

"Did we ever figure out what shaolin is?" Kim asked, "did you guys have to say that too?" 

"Shaolin is an ancient Chinese style of fighting. It's a martial art, and some claim it is the first martial art that existed, and the best. Normally known as Shaolin Shi'an Fa. It was amazing training. They say the final test for blackbelt was a labyrinth, you passed if you made it out alive. AT the end of the labyrinth there was a giant cauldron filled with hot oil, you had to pick up the cauldron and move it to the side to get out, and as you did, two dragons were branded into your forearms, that's how they knew who the masters were. There's also a legend that 200 Shaolin monks managed to destroy an army made up of 10,000 men." Trini suddenly said as if she were quoting from an encyclopedia. She received two very blank stares. "No I didn't know that off the top of my head, I looked it up on the internet while Zach and Jason were applying for our leave from the conferences." The ex yellow ranger said with a sigh, rolling her eyes. 

"Well that answered that question." Kimberly murmured with a small grin. "So what's on the agenda?" 

"Kat's coming over, then we're going to pick up John provided he hasn't stayed out all night and gotten himself another California lover - Jason will already be out and about - then we're going to meet up with everyone else at the Youth Center because.. I don't know actually. Why do we go to the Youth Center? We're not exactly the Youth in the connotation of the word." Aisha muttered, frowning thoughtfully. Trini shrugged. 

"Force of habit. That and Ernie puts an illegal drug in his smoothies turning us all into addicts so that we can't stop drinking them." The Asian girl explained. Kim blinked. 

"Oh. I knew there was something like that. I don't even like peach normally. And yet I always get those peach things.. I never understood it." The pink ranger murmured just as the doorbell rang and Kat walked in. 

"Good morning!" 

"I'm taking a shower." Aisha suddenly announced as she bounded out of the room. The other girls looked at each other and shrugged. 

"We're meeting John at what time? He was so depressed that Aisha didn't have the room for him, he so wanted to say that he owned a harem of females that did his every bidding." Kimberly said after a pause. 

"Yeah but he's staying with Jason. And we all know that John has a crush on Jason. That should make up for it." Kat said, sitting down next to Trini. The other three girls had taken to Kimberly's new best friend right away, he amused them far too much, plus he had great taste in clothes considering he was a fashion design major. They were all dressed in something he had picked out and fixed up. He had been choosing Kim's clothes for years, and she was his model when he needed to design something. He had also been trying to wean her off of the color pink for quite some time. 

"True. I think he'd rather have a harem though. It's hurting him that Jason's so straight." 

"Are we talking about my favorite subject ladies?" 

"Speak of the devil.." Kat muttered as Jonathan waltzed in the door, shutting it. 

"That depends, what's your favorite subject?" Trini asked. John grinned as he walked into the kitchen, calmly shoving Kimberly out of it. 

"Moi of course. What other subject matter is there? I see you three have taken my suggestions to heart and you all look fab. I am a God." And with that he started to make breakfast as if he had been living in Aisha's apartment for years. 

"What you are, is full of yourself." Kimberly told him. 

"Be nice to me Kimmie or I won't give you an extra piece of bacon." 

"Why are you here exactly?" Katherine asked, eyeing him. "I thought we were picking you up at Jason's house." 

"I wouldn't have been there.. I was detained in a residence not far from here after clubbing last night. I told Jason ahead of time so there was no worry." He said with a small perverted grin. 

"You're sick." 

"No.. I'm just primitive. I give into my more earthy desires." 

"No discussing that while you're cooking breakfast please. My stomach can't handle it." Aisha grumbled as she walked out. 

"Good morning Aisha darling. Breakfast is ready!" And with that he flipped scrambled eggs into four plates, bacon, toast and poured Trini another cup of coffee while handing the others orange juice. 

"Jonathan have I told you how much I love you?" Aisha asked, biting into her breakfast. The man just grinned. 

"Yes. But I love hearing it. You are part of my harem after all." 

"Why is it you have a harem but you don't even like women?" Kim demanded. 

"I love women. Just not in bed." 

"Does that make you a biased bi?" Trini asked casually. The other girls giggled. 

"I suppose it does. Biased Bi. I rather like the sound of it." He retorted with a grin. The girls groaned before hurrying to finish breakfast. It seemed as if the glowing pendants had been forgotten. 

However, by the time they reached the youth center they saw a bunch of sorrowful faces of the male power rangers which immediately brought down the girl's spirits. Jonathan noted how worried everyone looked, and decided that something had gone wrong that was probably not any of his business. With that in mind he excused himself from the girls and went to engage Ernie in a perfectly innocent conversation regarding penguins and duct tape. The four girls shared a look before walking over. 

"What's up?" Kat asked, sitting down next to Tommy. He shot her a glance before his eyes flitted to Billy. 

"We're supposed to do it in the Youth Center, make it look like friendly competition. Zordon had a score card printed out. We just need someone to keep track of it. We need the top five to go, and the others to stay here. Zedd and Rita are still around, and although they've been quiet for a while, we can't hope it'll last in the time it takes for the five to go on their mission." He whispered hurriedly. Tommy stood up and started walking towards the large matted area of the training center. Kim frowned thoughtfully before looking at Jonathan. 

"John could do it." Kim said. At looks of disbelief she explained. " There was a martial arts team training in the same area as our gymnastics team. John got a crush on one of the members and so er.. I taught him about scoring so that he could score." 

"Why am I not surprised?" Kat asked rolling her eyes. Kim grinned as she stood up. 

"He'll do it. He wouldn't up a pass to see people covered in sweat and exerting themselves for anything in the world.. unless he was allowed to go on that TV series The Bachelor and end up choosing none of the girls and running off with one of the producers.." She trailed off as she walked over to the guy waving his arms around animatedly as Ernie listened in fascination. Zach raised an eyebrow. 

"Dare I even ask?" 

"No." The three girls replied simultaneously. Zach laughed. 

"Understood." 

This brought us back to where Kimberly was currently situated. Facing Tommy Oliver; bane of her existence, love of her life, and currently hurtling at her head in a scissor kick. She quickly flipped backwards, kicking out and tripping the man up. He immediately regained balance as she landed on her feet, hands on guard again. They were both panting, their faces were red, and it was the last battle of the day. Kim so wanted to give up, she was damn tired. Each person had to battle everyone twice. And she and Tommy had to battle first. He had wiped the floor with her, but that put a jolt of determination into Kimberly Harte. She wanted to prove herself. 

Tommy of course had won all of his fights - the only difficult one was that between him and Jason. Kimberly had lost very few of her own fights - shocking everyone, including herself. She hadn't expected to beat anyone. Especially not the current rangers. She had expected to do badly, to loose out easily considering she wasn't a martial artist any more, she was a gymnast.. but that seemed to be just the thing that was needed. It had also seemed her battles had been the most dramatic. Everyone was surprised when after the two fights between Kat and Kim, the two rangers hugged, congratulating each other, and everyone was shocked to see her holding her ground against the ever famous Tommy Oliver. 

Kimberly frowned at Tommy, analyzing what he was going to do next, and some how she knew he was waiting for her to attack. The gymnast frowned thoughtfully before a smile lit up her face. She started a routine that her gymnast coach had been drilling her on for the past few weeks. It was difficult, distracting, and attention grabbing. In other words, it was perfect. She immediately stepped into a front handspring, flipping repeatedly towards him, she landed on one hand, feinted as though she were going to leap into a stool kick, and instead threw herself into a spinning sidekick that landed fully into the white ranger's stomach. She watched in fascinated horror as he flew from her momentum, landing a few feet away and staring at her as if she was something he had never seen before. 

"Point to Kimmie. Winner." Jonathan said, voice disinterested. Kimberly's chest was heaving as she rubbed her wrists unconsciously. The girl slowly walked over to Tommy and offered a hand to help him up. He merely stared at her in shock, ignored her hand and got up on her own. The girl's arm fell back and she tried to keep a distinct hurt from showing in her eyes. 

"Congrats Kimberly.." He murmured softly. The gymnast nodded. 

"Couldn't let you wipe the floor with me like the first time." She replied, "are you okay?" She asked, eyes lowering to his stomach, one hand went out to gently rest on his arm. Tommy had to force himself to shake it off, and tried to pretend he didn't see the heartbreak in Kim's eyes. I don't trust myself around you Kim. You're like a drug. Addicting and dangerous. Tommy thought, biting his lip. 

"Don't worry. I'm fine." He told her with a small smile. "I've been through worse. You should know that.." Kim forced a smile in return, turning around to start back to the others who were still staring in shock, before her knees buckled from exhaustion. 

"Kim?!" Tommy was kneeling next to her in a flash, coldness forgotten, and worry overflowing. She laughed. 

"Sorry. I'm fine. Just tired. How in the world did I beat you Mr. Oliver? When I can't even walk?" She asked, taking the proffered hand and attempting to stand up. Ever the white knight, Tommy quickly swung an arm under her knees and lifted, causing the girl to shriek in surprise and fling her arms around his neck. Tommy refused to admit how much he liked having her there - even when she was sweaty, and in desperate need of a shower and a hair brush. She still managed to look beautiful. 

"I'm asking myself the same question Ms. Harte." He replied, as he walked over to the group. Aisha and Trini both had secretive smiles that they were desperately trying to hide. 

"No wonder you slaughtered me. Miss I just beat our fearless leader and I wasn't even in the midst of a temper tantrum." Rocky exclaimed. Adam only offered her a congratulatory smile. 

"Damn girl. Didn't know you had that in you." Zach said, shaking his head. 

"Me neither." Kim replied with a grin. 

"I did. The moment you beat me I figured I was going to have to kill myself out of honor unless you beat Oliver as well." Jason said, backing off as Kim threw a fist at him before gasping at the loss of balance and wrapping her arms against Tommy's neck again. Tommy tried not to smile. 

"Where did you learn that last routine Kim? I don't remember you ever being able to do that." Trini demanded, hands on her hips. 

"Coach Schmidt has been drilling her on it for the past three weeks. She was the only one good enough to attempt it. Didn't think you'd ever use it for sparring though. Unless Schmidt taught you that too Kimmie.. I knew he was related to Hitler.." John muttered, scribbling away at the score sheet and handing it to Billy. 

"Jonathan, might you explain what the little hearts are?" The blue ranger asked politely. 

"The dots on the I's" 

"The name Jason doesn't have any I's" 

"I was a terrible speller in school. Horrendous." Jonathan said smoothly, grinning. Kimberly rolled her eyes. 

"Now Kimmie we should get you in bed and get your shins iced." Her best friend fussed, wondering where they'd get ice. 

"I don't need ice." She retorted. 

"Kimberly darling, you're my model. I know your body better than anyone - except maybe him." And here Jonathan jerked a thumb at Tommy who immediately turned beet red. 

"Sorry! A perfectly well meaning not so G rated comment but only meant in good humor. The man is carrying you after all. Although how he can stand it considering you look like hell is beyond me." 

"Thanks Jonathan." She grumbled in annoyance, "don't make me kick your sorry little butt." 

"I rather like my butt." Jonathan said lightly before looking at his watch, "I promised I'd meet a hot little package for lunch today so I must be off. Tata my strange little fighting friends!" And with that he pranced off. Tommy felt disgusted with the man. This was Kimberly's boyfriend? The boy shook his head. 

"You feeling better?" Tommy asked. Kimberly nodded and he very gently set the girl back on her feet. "I'm going home and showering. I think we should probably meet up again in two hours. Here. Maybe we'll smell a little less." He said lightly, trying to smile before waving goodbye. 

"Did.. Jonathan really put little hearts next to Jason's name?" Aisha asked cautiously after the group was silent for a while. Billy showed her the paper and the girl covered her mouth to hide her giggles. Jason rolled his eyes. 

"That boy." 

"A crush's a crush.. no matter how impossible the situation seems to be, sometimes you can't help the way you feel about someone." Kimberly murmured, staring after the white ranger's retreating back. It was quite obvious that she was no longer talking about Jonathan. 

Hey all! NO, I'm not going to pair up Jason and Jonathan.. sorry. ^.^ Thank you all for your reviews, and sorry it took so long! I was in America and was busy paling around with friends so that I couldn't work on this. (Normally I live in Japan.) Anyways, hope you liked how I did the tournament, It seemed to work pretty well. I also haven't actually ever watched any of the episodes with Kat in them. I didn't want to turn her into a super bitch.. but.. I wasn't sure how she'd react.. I guess I made her a bit like me considering my name is Kat. Hehe. 

Oh, and for **Dagmar;** I changed the formatting to make it easier to read. If anyone else has issues with that. Please let me know in your reviews! 


	4. First Harsh Encounter

Chapter 4

"God. So many memories." Kim murmured softly, staring around the old circular room. She had borrowed the old radbug from Billy, and had gone to the command center. She wasn't sure why she had done it, but something had just told her to come. Relive old memories. Zordon was silent after expressing some surprise at seeing her there and was now watching her curiously; Alpha was busy on the upkeep of the command center. She had given the robot a hug, mentally slapping herself as she wondered yet again about the star wars tapes she knew were hidden some where in one of the storage units. 

"The old viewing screen… the place where I almost didn't accept the powers.. the place I fainted when we found out Tommy was the white ranger." She murmured softly, shaking her head. That was the first time he had called her Beautiful. Although it was rather wimpy of her to faint like that, at least the reward was nice. She trailed a finger along one of the control panels, smiling. 

"I missed this." The girl glanced at her watch, realizing it was almost time to go back to the Youth Center. She had showered and was now wearing one of outfits Jonathan had provided her with which brought out the highlights in her hair and focused mainly on drawing attention to her legs. Of course the self-centered egotist would have chosen all of the outfits he had created to fold neatly in her suitcase. 

"You did well today Kimberly." Zordon said softly - or as softly as he could anyways. She smiled. 

"Thanks Zordon. I guess the Pan Globals paid off in that department. " She replied. Zordon had been like a father to all of the rangers, or at least a very close friend. Many times each of them had gone up to see him - alone and so he knew everyone's heartbreaks, victories, everything. Kim had gone up during her parent's divorce, and when her coin had been stolen. He had a special relationship with all of the rangers. 

"The power rangers were never the same without you." He returned. Kimberly laughed. 

"Zordon you ninny. Of course not, Kat brought her own special qualities to the team. For one, she's not a klutz, she is awesome as the pink ranger." 

"Did you just call me a ninny?" He demanded. She blushed. 

"She did indeed." A voice called behind the two. Kimberly shrieked before turning around, only to find Tommy right behind her, he had also cleaned up, and his hair was still wet. 

"Tommy?" 

"Kimberly?" He asked mockingly, small smile twitching on his lips. She raised an eyebrow. 

"What are you doing here?" She asked, hands akimbo. He shrugged. 

"Most likely the same thing you are. I came to talk to Zordon before going to the Youth Center." Kim wondered how on earth she managed to finish getting ready faster than he did. Wasn't it the cardinal rule that women always took longer than men to shower and dress? 

"Oh. Well, I suppose I'll leave then." She said with a small smile before waving to Zordon. 

"Bye, Z. See you at the youth center Tommy." The gymnast murmured before walking out. Tommy stared after her long after she disappeared. 

"You miss her." Zordon murmured. 

"Yes." 

"You still love her." 

"Maybe." 

"You want to be together again." 

"No. Yes. I don't know." 

"But.." The big head trailed off as Tommy spun around to look at him. 

"I can't trust her Zordon. I don't want to love her any more. I want it to be over! I was getting over her and she suddenly had to be back and reminding me of how much she hurt me! She probably wants to have some sort of little talk and will give me a speech about wanting to be friends again. I have nothing to say. I can't handle it. I wish she'd just leave. Or if anything just leave me alone." Tommy looked up to see Zordon was not looking at him, and he whirled around to see Kim standing there eyes wide and filling with tears. He felt his heart constrict painfully. Shit. 

"Kim.." 

"I just.. forgot the keys to the bug.. silly me." She whispered, swallowing down the lump in her throat and walking over to grab the keys she left on a panel by the viewing globe. 

"Kim I-" 

"I'll see you at the Youth Center Tommy." She interrupted, brushing past him and walking out. The white ranger stared after her, mouth agape, wondering how much she heard. 

"It looks as though you got your wish Tommy." Zordon murmured softly. Tommy's head automatically started nodding. 

"Yeah." Is all he managed to say. He did get what he wanted, so why was it hurting so much? 

_"I have nothing to say. I can't handle it. I wish she'd just leave. Or if anything, just leave me alone."_

Kim sat in the bug for a while, not moving, and not daring to try and fly it back to Billy's. She waited until her blurry vision became focused as she forced tears back. She wasn't going to cry. She refused to let herself cry. The ex pink ranger looked at her watch and frowned, realizing she had ten minutes to get to the youth center. With a sigh she started up the car and flew down back to Billy's house. 

"Have fun catching up?" Billy asked politely. Kim put on a fake smile and nodded. 

"I really missed Zordon. I miss being a ranger. I don't know, life seems sort of drab when you're not saving the world every week." 

"I can imagine." The scientist said with a small smile as they started walking together to the Youth Center. 

"Kim, if I ask you a question will you give me an honest answer?" He asked. 

"Depends on the question. But sure." 

"Why did you send the letter? There was no other guy." The blue ranger murmured. Kimberly's head shot up. 

"How did you know that?" 

"You forget we switched bodies. I know you inside and out. I know what you and Tommy had, and I know no guy could come between that." He said gently. Kimberly sighed heavily. 

"It seemed that the white and pink ranger were meant to be together, no matter who the pink ranger was." She said simply. Billy nodded, frowning slightly, but said nothing more on the subject. 

"So Mr. I know everything, who were the winners of the lucky lottery of who gets to save the universe this time?" 

"Not telling. You'll have to wait to hear it with everyone else." He told her. 

"Jerk." She mumbled, causing him to chuckle. 

Tommy was already sitting with everyone else when Billy and Kimberly walked in laughing at something. His eyes trailed over her face, seeing that her laughter didn't quite reach the girl's eyes and he inwardly flinched. 

"What has you two in such an uproar?" Adam asked curiously. 

"We were just remembering when we switched bodies." Billy explained. Kim grinned. 

"Billy is the only man I know who has experienced what it feels like to have a time of the month." The expink ranger said, laughing. Billy scowled. 

"I hold no envy of the female species if you must go through that cycle every month." 

"I have really bad cramps. Billy learned why girls revere Mydol as a god.." 

"Too much info Kim!" Rocky exclaimed, throwing a french-fry at her, but laughing just the same. 

"You weren't the one who had to deal with it!" Billy retorted, causing all of them to laugh. Tommy frowned, she seemed normal.. if it weren't for the fact that she was avoiding looking in his direction like the plague. 

"So.. what's the status Billy boy?" Rocky demanded, taking a bite out of his hamburger. Billy noted how all of them leaned forward, every face anxious. He pulled out a slip of paper. 

"It's been decided that the five who are going on the mission are as follows; Tommy, Kimberly, Jason, Trini and Rocky." He murmured. "Adam, Zach, Aisha, Kat and myself will stay here. Zach.. you're going to have to take over the red ranger's powers for a while.. but it should be a pretty simple exchange since it's not permanent. We still have to protect the earth from Zedd. The other five, you guys have to report to Zordon first thing in the morning.. using your pendants. So technically it won't be early in the morning as you'll be in space but.." 

"I think we get it.." Trini said with a small nervous smile. She looked over to Kim and they offered each other looks of amusement. Original pink and yellow rangers were back in action! Kim looked at her watch and leapt up. 

"Oh! I was going to meet Jonathan and go to the beach in thirty minutes. He starts whining if you're late and ruins the whole day." She quickly grabbed her purse. "Besides, if I'm going to be in outer space I better work on my tan while I can." She added grinning. 

"What are you going to tell Jonathan?" Adam asked. 

"I don't know. The truth?" She suggested with a mischievous grin as she walked off. Tommy immediately got up and ran after her. 

"Kim. Wait!" The girl spun around and looked at the white ranger. She kept her eyes averted. 

"I um.. can.. can we talk?" he asked, overcome by shyness. God, she still made him lose all confidence - especially considering what she had heard him say to Zordon. He supposed that's why people weren't supposed to talk about other people behind their backs. It didn't matter that she had killed him inside, she didn't deserve that shabby treatment. Kim offered him a weak attempt at a smile that failed miserably. 

"You've already made it quite clear that you have nothing to discuss with me. Don't worry Tommy, I'll leave you alone, just like you wanted me to." She told him clearly before walking off. Tommy sighed, running a hand through his hair in annoyance. 

_I don't want you to leave me alone! I don't want you to ignore me! _He wanted to shout out, but he bit his lip. Obviously he didn't know what he wanted anymore. Kat? Kim? Neither? He sighed, and turned to look inside the youth center, where there were eight curious faces. His cheeks turned slightly pink and rolled his eyes as he walked off. 

"Those two.." Jason grumbled, rolling his eyes. Aisha looked at Kat who caught the glance and shook her head. 

"I know they belong with each other. Tommy and I.. I don't think we truly went past the friendship stage. I wasn't jealous of Kimberly having Tommy. I was jealous of what Tommy and Kimberly had.. Any matchmaking skills you mischievous people are currently planning - I want in." 

"You still have to break up with the boy." 

"Or just let him figure out that he's still in love with Kim and have him break up with me. I want to practice my acting." 

"You cruel cruel girl. I like it." Rocky said appreciatively. Kat blushed. 

"I'm clueless as to how to do it. They won't even look at each other." Zach said shaking his head. 

"This universal saving thing should just do the trick. Rocky, Trini and Jason - you guys have to make sure that they're constantly stuck in each other's company. Oh, and make Tommy jealous. Boys when they're jealous tend to do things that get the ball rolling." Aisha ordered, tapping her chin thoughtfully. 

"You don't think we might get distracted by the saving the universe thing?" Jason asked, small smile playing on his lips. 

"That comes second. This is true love we're talking about here." Aisha said, slamming her hand onto the table. The others laughed at her enthusiasm. 

"Sha you are the only one I know who could possibly find saving the universe second to pairing up two of your best friends." Adam said lightly. She shrugged. 

"I think that's all we can do for now. The first thing they have to do is talk; give them ample time to do so." Billy murmured. The eight rangers looked around and smiled at each other. 

"You look like you've been hit by a bus." Jonathan said as he watched Kimberly run up. 

"Thanks a lot John. I love you too." She panted, leaning over to press her hands against her knees. 

"You had a talk with him didn't you?" The boy said softly. Kim looked up and eyed him strangely. He sighed. "It's written on your face. You look ready to cry." 

"Well.. we had a talk." Technically. She added in her mind. "He just wants me to leave him alone." 

"That bastard." 

"John! It's not his fault! I hurt him. He's actually being pretty nice about it. I mean, he's not going to go out of his way to treat me cruelly." Kimberly defended. John rolled his eyes. 

"Kimmie you would never fall in love with someone who even if angry with you would go out of his way to treat you cruelly. You're a good judge of character - I mean.. just look at who you ended up with as a best friend." 

"Trini is pretty great.." Kimberly said lightly. Jonathan rolled his eyes and threw the girl over his shoulder causing her to shriek in surprise. 

"I'm throwing you in the water. You've wounded me." 

"Lemme go! I was merely deflating your swollen head! Lemme go!" 

"Swollen head? Oh now you're really gonna get it Miss Harte!" 

"You'll ruin these clothes! They're dry-clean only!" Kim called out tauntingly. John froze and carefully set the girl down. 

"Damn you." He grumbled. Kimberly grinned - thankful to John for letting her forget about Tommy Oliver, at least for a while. 

"So what is all of this Angel Grove stuff really about Kimberly?" Jonathan asked. A few hours had passed since they arrived at the beach, and the two were now sunbathing. The ranger was a on her stomach, half asleep in the warm sunshine. 

"What do you mean?" She asked, not understanding what he was getting at. Jonathan frowned and rolled over onto his stomach, resting his head on his arms and gazing at her sternly. 

"I'm in fashion design. Like I said, I know your body better than anybody, I also realized that you're the exact same body type as the first pink ranger - and don't tell me there's only been one. The pink ranger suddenly grew taller and not as curvy - that doesn't happen in real life. My second clue was that you were from Angel Grove - showing up just as the pink ranger disappeared. My third clue was your near obsession with the color pink. My fourth clue was the fact that you were a gymnast and a martial artist. How many girls could there be from Angel Grove who fit that description Kimmie? Plus I checked flight schedules. The earliest flight out of Florida to Angel Grove was the one I was on. There were no flights that night you left." Kim's jaw dropped and she stared at her friend shell-shocked. 

"Don't look so surprised Kimmie darling. I was obsessed with Sherlock Holmes when I was a kid. Sherlock and Watson were lovers in my opinion. Especially considering Sherlock didn't like women. You realize your friends could have done a much better job hiding themselves if they didn't insist on wearing their signature colors? Oh, and my fifth and most damning clue is the fact that you reacted like you are when I threw this at you. If you had laughed at me I might have believed I was wrong. Your little leader needs all of the rangers together to do something huh?" 

"Save the universe." She said mildly, "only half of us are doing that. The other half are staying here to protect Earth from Zedd. He doesn't know about this new old evil yet." 

"Which bunch are you part of?" 

"The ones going off to save the universe." She whispered, closing her eyes. 

"Tommy too huh?" 

"Yeah." 

"So what's this bad guy you are facing?" 

"We don't know." 

"That's always helpful. Jeez Kimmie, your life is out of a comic book. You have the romance, you have the mystery, you even have the spandex!" 

"It's not that simplistic Jonathan. There's always a constant fear of being killed, of not seeing your family again, of not being strong enough to save the world. It was a huge responsibility. I mean, usually people try and train teenagers responsibility by making them get jobs or buying them a puppy. We had to learn responsibility by understanding if we were beaten the entire world was as good as screwed. It was probably the most hellish and yet most uplifting experience ever. We were part of a team and shared a common goal that just brought us together to make a tight knit family. We were famous, and at the same time anonymous. We were saving the world, and kicking butt, and still trying to pass Biology in our spare time.." She trailed off and smiled. 

"You miss it a lot." 

"Yeah." She said as she turned over to tan her stomach, "I'm glad to be back. I almost went into depression considering - I had been saving the world but I gave that up for gymnastics? It seemed a bit shallow and not very well thought out." She murmured. Jonathan said nothing and the two remained in companionable silence for the next hour, until both had gotten bronze tans. 

"Now you're a California Beach Bum." Kim told John as they got back to Aisha's apartment. 

"You're leaving in the morning then?" He asked softly. She nodded. 

"Early early." She returned. Jonathan gathered the girl into a tight hug and kissed her forehead. 

"Be safe okay? And if you haven't come back having at least kissed that Oliver guy.." 

"I know I know." She told him with a grin. "Stick around, pretend ignorance, have a good laugh at some of the excuses my friends try and come up with for my sudden disappearance." She told him. 

"Oh I intend to." 

"Goodbye Jonathan." 

"Love you Kimmie.." 

"Love you too." She murmured as she walked into Aisha's quiet apartment and Jonathan went back to Jason's house. 

Kimberly had changed into her pajamas, idly remembering the conversation about saving the world in an outfit such as this. She was strangely calm. It was if an evil threatening everyone's very existence hadn't become real to her - probably due to the minimal information known about it. 

"Or rather the non-existent information about it." She grumbled to herself, still staring blankly in the mirror. She put on her pendant and slowly crawled into the large bed in Aisha's guest bedroom. The girl soon fell asleep, the glowing pendant tightly clutched in her fingers. 

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For some reason I wasn't really happy with this chapter, but I couldn't figure out what was wrong with it.. yeah.. so anyways hope you guys enjoy! There'll be another update in maybe two weeks. I'm falling behind on stuff. Technically, I'm up to chapter 7 with this story written out. Anyone want to be a beta-reader? 

I also noted that almost everyone asked me why Tommy didn't know JOnathan was gay yet. Tommy is an oblivious idiot. He also hasn't been exposed to homosexuals that much, so isn't sure how they'd act. Plus anytime anyone mentioned that he was gay, I made sure to write in that Tommy wasn't around to hear it. XD. Trust me, you can be around people and not know they're gay. It's happened to me four times now (Two of my cloest friends whom I've known for four years turned out to be gay and I never knew it until now.. how's that for oblivion?) 


	5. It starts coming into place

A/N: Oh my gosh! So sorry it took so long! I have been facing writers block for this story.. I'm not sure how to go forth with it, but I'll still try and update as often as I can. I'm still afew chapters ahead in writing it. Like, Chapters 6 is written, Chapter 7 is mostly written.. I just need to get inspiration some how!! >. Chapter 5 

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Kimberly was silently staring out in space, and it was obvious that she had yet to notice him. This gave Tommy plenty of time to stare at her. He wanted to apologize, but pride- hers and his - wouldn't allow it. So he just had to make do with staring while her mind was obviously elsewhere. The white ranger never tired of looking at the girl, he liked to think he remembered every facial expression, every smile, every different quirk and habit - 

"It's amazing isn't it?" Her soft voice asked. Tommy nearly jumped out of his skin. 

"W-what?" He stammered, how the hell did she do that? 

"Space." Kim murmured, glancing over her shoulder to look at him. "Kind of daunting, all these little spackles in the sky are stars? Planets? There are creatures living on those planets..." she trailed off, "there are attacks from space and people still refuse to believe that aliens exist. Arrogant, don't you think?" 

"People still refuse to believe aliens exist?" Tommy asked, raising an eyebrow. Kim smiled. 

"There were people in Florida who thought that Power Rangers was just a kid's show. They used to make fun of Rita and Zedd's monsters, saying it looked like Godzilla except American style." The ex-pink ranger explained. Tommy laughed. 

"You can't be serious." 

"Completely." 

"And I thought I was dense." He muttered, rolling his eyes. Kimberly smiled gently and merely turned back to looking out to space. 

"How long have you been here?" Tommy asked, trying to keep up the conversation. 

"Two or three hours." 

"Two or three hours?!?!" 

"After I said Shaolin, I couldn't figure out how to get back." She said, and Tommy knew that when she turned to him she'd have a sheepish grin on her face. 

"Why were you up so early?" 

"Couldn't sleep much." 

"Me neither." He sighed in frustration, sitting down. The two were quiet for a while, Tommy watching Kimberly, and Kimberly staring blankly at the stars. 

"Was it worth it?" He finally asked. 

"Was what worth it?" 

"Pan Globals." The white ranger muttered dully. Kimberly turned to look at him and raised a brow, but as she opened her mouth, the second and current red ranger popped up, yawning. 

"God, power transfer at five AM in the morning and then coming up to space? Jeez what a mess." 

"Good Morning Rocko!" Kim said, smiling at him. 

"Agh, not so chipper Kim. You're trying to kill me." 

"I've just past the point where I'm allowed to be grumpy." She corrected. He groaned, leaning his head against her shoulder and closing his eyes. 

"Want to go back to sleep... you're too short." 

"So use Tommy's shoulder!" 

"He's not as soft as you are, and he doesn't smell as good." Rocky complained. Kim rolled her eyes, laughing. Tommy watched all of this out of the corner of his eye, fighting the urge to rip Rocky's head off. _ Back off Tommy. She's not yours. She's someone else's. You have someone of your own. Don't let her get to you._ But he couldn't help wondering if she smelled the same - like cherries and vanilla. 

"Alright Rocky alright, you can use me as your pillow." 

"I knew even when you were with Tommy you secretly loved me." 

"You know it." She said sarcastically. "I want you, I need you, oh baby oh baby." She said in a monotone. 

"Wow Kim, so passionate. Though I would stop stealing lines from movies." Jason's voice popped up, Kim sighed. 

"Is this 'Pick on Kim Day' or what?" 

"It's only because we haven't seen you in two years. We went through teasing Kim withdrawal." Rocky told her, still half asleep on the girl's shoulder. 

"Rocky if you drool on me, you will die either by Jonathan - for ruining his design, or by me - for the pure fact that I don't like people drooling on me." 

"But drooling over you is okay?" Rocky asked. Kim grinned. 

"If you choose to do so." She giggled. 

"Is that what you would call a double standard?" 

"Jason shut up. You're just jealous because I got to use her as a pillow first." Rocky crowed in triumph. 

"She has another shoulder." Jason pointed out. 

"This is the better shoulder." 

"And how would you know?" The ex-red ranger demanded, crossing his arms and smirking. 

"Do you really wanna find out?" Rocky shot back, lecherous grin in place. 

"Why are you two pretending that I don't exist, even though it's my shoulder you're arguing over?" Kim finally asked sarcastically. 

"Kimmie don't move; it ruins how comfy you are." Rocky demanded. Tommy watched all of this in a strange jealous bemusement. He really did want to shove Rocky away from Kim and pummel the guy, but Kim's expression was priceless, and worth it. 

"Of course Trini would be the last person to show. That girl is not a morning person." Jason grumbled, looking at his watch. 

"Oh good. Even when we're in the middle of the universe we'll be able to know what time it is in Angel Grove." Rocky said lightly, cracking one eye open to look at Jason. He then went back to trying to fall asleep on Kim's shoulder. 

"Rocky..." 

"Kim." 

"My shoulder's going numb." 

"Does that mean I get to use your lap?" He asked with a lecherous grin, "I still haven't figured out why you called yourself a naughty sex kitten..." Tommy shot to his feet and only barely managed to gain control over himself. He was not going to kill Rocky; he was not going to tear Rocky away from Kim and shout at him to leave her alone. He was not going to get jealous if Kim allowed the red ranger to rest his head in her lap - something that Tommy used to do all the time. A mental image of Jonathan with his head in Kimberly's lap appeared in the white ranger's mind and he felt rather sick to his stomach. The boy shook his head. He couldn't think like that. This mission - whatever it was - was much more important than some stupid lingering feelings he felt for the girl currently scowling at Rocky. 

"I think I'll stick with having a numb shoulder." Kimberly told the idiot currently half asleep. 

"Oh, shot down." Jason said with a grin. The ex-pink ranger sighed. Where was Trini when one needed her? She was just glad she wasn't the only girl traveling with four guys; she was afraid that she would have gone mad. The yellow ranger suddenly appeared carrying a cup of coffee, and Kim grinned. "Speak of the devil..." 

"I hate those words; first thing in the morning." Trini grumbled, gulping down some of her coffee. 

"Good morning Rangers." Zordon suddenly called, his head appearing in what looked to be the center of this odd bubble. 

"Good morning Zordon." Trini and Kim managed to say in synch. 

"Ugh. Why did that feel so Charlie's Angels?" Trini muttered, rolling her eyes. Kim only laughed, Rocky was still resting on her shoulder, but a slight tilt of her head showed her that his eyes were wide open and he was paying attention. 

"I will now explain all we know about this new enemy... and then, onto the first half of your mission. Claiming your fighting style - but I will explain that later." 

All of the rangers sat down, and Kimberly realized it felt a hell of a lot like she was in Kindergarten sitting around for Story time. Rocky still managed to keep his head on her shoulder and she rolled her eyes. God he was such a baby. 

"Billions of years ago, before the Earth even existed, when races far from here were just starting to evolve into societies - including my own, there existed a race of peaceful beings called the Menthael. They were very technologically advanced for the time, and they were famous for their peaceful stature, inner serenity, and overall goodness. They all had good hearts and souls, but they also had a secret. As you have had power transfers, they had what one could call, morality transfers. As you know, a person has both good and evil inside him or herself. But this technology of theirs, allowed them to simply rid themselves of the bad. It was seen as a purging. The only problem was, that this 'bad' had to go somewhere, and thus a babe was sacrificed to be the receiver. Any malicious, cruel, sad, evil part of their souls, were transferred into a heavily guarded being, Aruendywar. 

This meant that the Menthael could not be evil, because it no longer existed within them, the ability to be so. Aruendywar was never spoken about, nor mentioned except by those who guarded him. But the Menthael underestimated how much evil could accumulate into one being over time; they underestimated how cunning he could become. He escaped, and destroyed the race entirely. He went on, with a massive genocide, upon the planet that he existed in. He had the powers of illusion and possession, and he only knew how to hate. It was very lucky that a brave young creature - nameless, genderless, and completely unknown to us, managed to trap him, although it is unknown how this creature did it. But Aruendywar was left - blocked from life, unguarded but proving no threat to the Universe. 

Unwittingly - or perhaps purposefully, he has been released. The Council has asked of me to have my power rangers, if not destroy him, put him back into safekeeping, to be heavily guarded until we can discover a way to destroy him. " Zordon finished, and all of them were silent. 

"God..." Trini murmured, coffee long since forgotten. The giant head looked at the five of them, frowning slightly. 

"I need not tell you how dangerous this mission is, nor how important. But I have complete faith that you can and will succeed." 

"How do we start Zordon? We don't have the Zords - they're being used at the moment, and none of us have our morphers - save Tommy..." Jason started to argue. 

"I was getting to that. Perhaps you have given a little thought to the pendants you all received earlier?" 

"Shaolin." Trini murmured. Zordon nodded. 

"On your Earth there exists an Island. It moves between reality and the surreal, between oceans, lakes, rivers, mists, everything. You have heard of it a few times in legends. Very few people have witnessed the Island, much less been allowed communication with it. It is an Isle called many names, and yet it is nameless. It flickers in and out of the imagination, and has held to be inspiration many a time. It is forever changing its physical appearance, and so always appearing as something different depending on the desires of the viewer. If one wants it to be beautiful, it is beautiful, if one wants it to be ugly, it is hideous... etc." 

"Atlantis?" Tommy hesitated to guess. 

"Sometimes it was called that..." 

"Avalon maybe..." Kimberly murmured. Zordon nodded. 

"It has been called that as well." 

"What does this have to do with a Chinese Martial art?" Trini asked. 

"Who says its Chinese Trini? It is a pure fighting style, and has been chosen by the council for you to learn. You will be transported to this island, where you will face a selection of tests before receiving your power." The giant head explained calmly. 

"If it's anything like the ninjetti..." Rocky trailed off, lifting his head off of Kim's shoulder. Zordon shook his head. 

"I can tell you nothing of it. I'm sorry Rocky. This is meant as a road of self discovery, if I told you anything, it would not be you who did all of the discovering." 

"When do we go Zordon?" Kim asked, quickly standing up, rubbing the numb muscles and trying to get some feeling back into her shoulder. Damn Rocky. 

"You merely whisper *****, and it shall transport you to the Isle. Good luck rangers. I shall see you again once your challenge is complete." And with that their leader and surrogate father slowly vanished. Kimberly started to stretch - something she did when she was slightly apprehensive - Tommy noted as they all stared at each other quietly. Trini finished off her coffee, her face the epitome of calm. 

"Well, shall we get a move on?" Tommy asked, ever the leader, he fiddled with the pendant slightly eyeing the group. 

"Just a minute Tommy." Kimberly halted him, stopping her stretches and standing up, right hand outstretched. "I feel somewhat corny doing this but it's been so long, and we don't know if we'll be separated on this Isle or not. We don't know what's going to happen after this moment. We don't know what's going to happen in the future; the future of us, the future of Earth, the future of everything." She gestured with her left hand at the stars surrounding them. "So just for old times sake..." She trailed off and watched as her teammates began to smile at her. Trini's hand covered hers, Jason, Rocky, and finally Tommy completed it. Kimberly realized that perhaps they had forgiven her for her mess-up with Tommy, and that she wasn't completely alienated. She had been telling herself that for the past week, but in this moment she just knew. And she realized how right it felt to be part of a team again, saving the world and kicking ass. 

"The Power rangers have an unbeaten record to keep up... No emotional baggage keeps us down, and no argument is left unabridged. We leave a team, and we come back a team - as strong and as close as ever." Kimberly said, voice strong, smiling at them. Her eyes locked with Tommy's for a split second, before she managed to tear her gaze away, finding it much better to stare at their hands. 

"Just how long were you working on that little speech Kimmie? During Zordon's briefing?" Jason asked. She grinned. 

"Improv. Jase, all improv, thought of it two seconds before it came out." 

"Damn girl." Was all Trini had to say. Rocky laughed. 

"Now that we're done with the mushy stuff can we say the word and get out of here? This not having anything under my feet is freaking me out." 

"Catch ya on the flipside!" Kimberly sang to a chorus of groans at the old line, 

"Oh shut up. See you at the Isle." She grumbled. 

"To think she ruined a perfectly good moment by-" And that was all Kimberly heard of Rocky's speech as she closed her eyes, muttered the word and soon she no longer felt the warmth from her teammate's hands on top of hers. 

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Catchya nexttime!! love and hugs. 


	6. Tests

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Chapter 6 

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Kimberly found herself alone, in a vast forest made mainly of oak trees. It reminded her of the forests seen in fairytales. There was light filtering down through the taller trees, giving the entire forest a hazy golden glow, a constant noise of birds, bugs, and wind, and an occasional flash of a color other than green or brown - wild flowers. She half expected a gnome or a fairy to walk by, darting behind leaves of the tall oak trees. Or maybe just for a random cartoon character to dance by, singing a song of dreams - take your choice, there were at least seven songs on dreams or wishes alone from Disney. This only served to remind her of the time they got stuck in that fairytale book Tommy had bought for her. She smiled to herself in remembrance. Yes, a knight with a white tiger would have been perfect. 

"A pathway of self discovery..." She murmured softly, staring at the pathway in front of her. It looked well beaten, and easily passed, but she frowned, eyes flitting over to the left. 

_" Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-"_

Kim trailed off, stepping up to the first path, something told her that was not the way to go. With that in mind she immediately turned towards the path on her left and started down. 

_"I took the one less traveled by, _

and that has made all the difference." She finished quoting. "Thank you Robert Frost for contributing to Kimberly Ann Harte's quest of self discovery," she murmured, hoping she sounded like a radio talk show host. It was beautiful here, although boring, and she hated being alone in unknown places. As she continued to walk at a rather brisk pace, she let her mind drift. Perhaps that's why early in Pan Global training she had had so much trouble. She had fought with depression, and struggled with accepting herself as company. It was strange moving from a group of people who had a bond that was so close - and then being released. 

"Ontological shock." Kim mumbled quietly. 

"You know what they say about people who talk to themselves." A voice called from behind. Kimberly spun around. 

"Jason?" 

"The one and only." The ex ranger said, grinning at her as she stopped to let him catch up. 

"Why are you on my path of self discovery?" She demanded, hands on her hips. Jason shrugged as they started walking again. 

"The same could be asked of you. Maybe we share the same self." 

"You'd think that you and Rocky would find each other since you were both red rangers." Kim retorted, sighing. 

"Well, pink is technically red with white mixed in. So… you're a mixture of me and Tommy. I'm expecting Tommy at any moment." 

"Since when do two males make a female? Y Chromosomes would just make an extremely manly male. You need an X Chromosomes to make a female. I think…" 

"…and here we thought you left to become a gymnast, not a biologist," Jason joked and Kim grinned at it. The two walked in silence for a while, just enjoying each other's company. 

"I really missed you when you went away to the peace conference." She murmured softly. 

"You experienced that depression too huh? Splitting from your power, leaving the group…" Jason returned, voice low. 

"How did you know?" 

"Trini, Zach and I suffered from it, but we had each other. It made it a lot easier. I can't imagine what you went through Kimmie." She frowned. 

"Jonathan helped a lot." 

"What was your alibi for him?" 

"Eh, didn't need one. He figured it out on his own - the clever bastard." 

"Let me guess, he begged and pleaded for you to let him be the purple ranger?" Kimberly scoffed. 

"As if I'd let him get close to the command center. He'd redecorate that place to be Feng Shui friendly. Then he'd spend all of his time - not destroying monsters sent by Zedd and Rita - but by designing new outfits for the power rangers to symbolically link and coordinate them with their Zords." Jason laughed. 

"I can see him doing that." He told her. Kim smiled. 

"Jonathan tells me that the reason I wrote the letter was because I put the trash bin in the romance corner, next to the writing desk." 

"Why did you write that letter?" 

"Because Tommy needed to move on." Jason shook his head. 

"Liar." 

"…what?" 

"You were terrified Kim, weren't you? Your parents divorce? You were scared stiff of seeing what you and Tommy had turning into that. That the distance would eventually be too much, and he'd run to the first girl who offered him comfort because of it 

"We were in High School Jason. High School relationships never last." Kim said logically. 

"That's not true and you know it." He scolded. Kimberly frowned. They walked in silence for a while, before she sighed. 

"I was scared of what we had. It went against every logical explanation..." She whispered, "I was depressed, and I was jealous of Kat, even though I knew I didn't have the right. I didn't… trust Tommy to continue to love me." Kimberly turned to look at Jason before blinking in surprise. She was by herself. 

"Eh? Jason?" The ex-pink ranger frowned. "Jason?" Then it dawned on her. "So that's why he was on my path of self-discovery." She muttered, wondering if it was Jason at all. Probably not. The girl frowned again, missing her relationship with the white ranger more than ever. She had given herself all of these logical excuses for why she had to break up with him. She hadn't wanted to blame it on something as petty as jealousy and loneliness. She frowned again. Now there was a double standard, she would trust Tommy with her life, but not her heart? The girl winced as guilt started to break over her in waves. How was she supposed to stand herself when she knew she had broken up with her match? The girl was so distracted by this newly found enlightenment that she didn't notice the river until she fell in. 

* * *

"This must be one hell of an island if it has a desert in the middle." Tommy grumbled, eyeing his surroundings. He was surprised that even though he was in the desert, it wasn't that hot. His shirt had yet to be drenched in sweat, nor was the sand very uncomfortable or hard to walk in. Of course, perhaps one should expect nothing less from a magical island of self-discovery. 

It looked a lot like Arizona actually, in the South. Tommy knew perfectly well - as all people from Arizona do - that the sixth largest state was not entirely all desert. The southern half was most definitely desert, desert and more desert, but the Northern half was covered in forests primarily made up of Ponderosa Pines. He remembered traveling to a ski lodge with his uncle. It still amazed the boy that despite his center of balance and work as a ranger he couldn't ski if his life depended on it. His definition of skiing was trying not to crash on the bunny hill - at least until Kat and Billy had taught him how to do it properly. Apparently you weren't supposed to cross your ski tips. 

He sighed. That had been right after the break-up with Kim, which had led in to the relationship with Kat. The pretty blond's face came to his mind and he could see her smile but it didn't - it had never made his heart thud heavily against his chest like Kim's had. His knees had never gone weak at simply seeing her. And, now that he thought of it, she had always initiated any sort of physical sign of intimacy - holding hands, hugs, kisses. Tommy scowled slightly. Did that mean something? Was there something wrong with his relationship with Kat? There was just no spark and the connection just wasn't as deep as it had been with Kim. 

"Boring huh?" A voice asked behind him. Tommy jumped slightly in surprise, turning to see Trini behind him. She grinned as she caught up with him, but as far as he could see, the only footprints in the sand were his. Creepy. Very creepy. 

"You could say that. Are we just supposed to keep walking forever?" He asked lightly, wondering if this was some sort of vision from the Island. As far as he knew, Trini couldn't be light enough to pull off the no footprints in the sand trick. Maybe he could get some info about this Island from her. The Asian girl shrugged slightly. 

"I don't know. Maybe it just puts us in the environment we're used to, or can be comfortable in." 

"Aha." Tommy murmured to himself. The two walked in silence side by side comfortably for a while, until Trini finally spoke up. 

"I remember when we first saw you, in that tournament against Jason. Kim couldn't tear her eyes away. She couldn't even stop herself from mentioning aloud how cute you looked." Trini said softly. Tommy blinked in slight surprise, wondering how he had been dense enough to miss that. He remembered seeing Kim there, and he remembered thinking she was way out of his league, but he definitely could not remember her staring at him. Trini continued. 

"I always thought men were totally oblivious but you were definitely the worst." Trini laughed. 

"Why are you bringing this up? She threw what we had away. It's over." Tommy grumbled, not wanting to hear about Kimberly. 

"It's back to square one with her." Trini murmured. 

"Eh?" He asked before inwardly smacking himself for sounding rather stupid. Trini shrugged. 

"I remember you two were constantly dancing around each other, doing things for each other in the name of friendship, while secretly wanting to kiss the living daylights out of each other. The same thing is happening now." 

"No it isn't. I have Kat." 

"Then stop looking at Kimberly as though you can't stop thinking about making out with her." Trini challenged, glaring at him. _Damn, how did she know that?_ Tommy wondered, eyeing Trini respectfully. But he was about to take a swim down the river in Egypt. 

'I don't look at-" 

"Denial isn't good for you." Trini interrupted. Tommy had the grace to blush. 

"I have Kat. Kimberly and I have nothing now. Friendship. That's it." 

"Suit yourself." Trini grumbled. Tommy frowned. Why was he lying to himself? Why couldn't he just admit that he wanted Kim - despite the fact that she had ripped his heart out and did the cha-cha on it in 200 words or less? He couldn't trust Kim not to do that to him again. He couldn't trust her with his heart again or else he'd be branded a complete and total fool. Was it worth it? Was it worth being stupid for the sake of wanting to be with someone? Would he be happy with her? Would he trust her not to break up with him? No. No he couldn't trust her with his heart. He did that once, and it had ripped him up inside. Besides, hadn't she met the guy she wanted? Wasn't Tommy just a 'brother' to her now? 

"She looks at you the same way you know." 

"Huh?" 

"Like she can't think of anything save wanting to make out with you." Trini told him. Tommy shook his head. 

"I don't want to have to choose between someone I can't trust but I want, and someone whom I don't really want as much, but can trust and learn to want." 

"Sucks to be you." Trini murmured. Tommy sighed heavily. 

"It's no contest." 

"Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connait point." 

"And what does that mean oh mistress of French?" Tommy demanded. 

"The heart has it's reasons that the reason knows not of." She translated. "Does it matter if you look the romantic fool as long as you're happy? Or would you rather be seen as the logical man who passed up a chance on true happiness for a half-assed relationship you're afraid to commit to?" Trini demanded. Tommy was silent. 

"…I guess being a fool wouldn't be so bad." He muttered. Silence answered him, and he turned to realize that Trini Doppelganger was gone. 

"Heh." 

* * *

Kim really hated this. She struggled valiantly against the current, and was failing miserably. Every time she tried to scream, she only managed to swallow more water. Although she mentally thanked whatever God was up there that it was a fresh water stream. The ranger was being tossed about like a rag doll. She kept getting dunked underwater, and it seemed no matter how hard she fought to get to the top, she was just shoved down again. Kimberly was ready to give up, ready to just drown. Her lungs were burning with the need of oxygen, and her arms were becoming tired. 

Kim silently screamed in pain as her body was slammed against a large underwater rock, and she felt thousands of tiny cuts begin to dot her back. She hit another rock, and felt as though she were a pinball, and was loosing. The girl, on a lucky glance, caught sight of a branch hovering above the water, and with her last surge of energy tried to leap out of the water and managed to grab onto the branch, holding on for dear life. Somehow, she found the strength to pull herself up and onto the branch, crawling to the shoreline and collapsing on her stomach. 

Her lungs were burning, her muscles were screaming in pain, and she could feel tiny rivets of blood on her back. 

"Okay. Ow." She muttered, shoulders heaving as she panted, trying to get air back into her system. She was starting to really dislike this quest of self-discovery. She just wanted to sleep, but some how she doubted that sleep was allowed. There was a universe to save; she couldn't be taking naps on the job. The actual universe saving process hadn't even started yet and she was already slacking. Kimberly would pull her weight in this team; she would not be the weakest link. She refused to be the damsel in distress, and she would make sure that she wasn't seen as the typical valley girl afraid of breaking a nail. 

"Come on Kim. Get up. You have to get up." The ex ranger muttered to herself, squeezing her eyes closed. She did give herself a few moments to catch her breath, although she really wished that she had some way of treating the cuts on her back. 

"Jonathan is going to kill me when he sees what I did to his clothes." She mumbled as she slowly got to her knees, and forced herself to her feet. Kim shook out her hair, feeling disgusting. 

"Physical Challenge, Emotional Challenge, what's next? A spiritual challenge?" She asked, looking at the sky as she started to walk upstream, hoping she wasn't pushed too far down stream, which would really prolong her quest. The girl heard a crash of thunder and groaned. 

"I had to ask." 

* * *

Tommy was exhausted. He had been walking for what seemed like hours, with no end to the desert in sight. His eyesight was blurring slightly, and he was dying for some water. The boy was also suffering from mirages. He kept imagining different people that ended up being cactus or random scrub bushes, and he kept seeing fast food restaurants, which only served in making his stomach growl. This was why it took a few moments to realize that the sand under his feet wasn't solid, and that he was being sucked under. 

"Quick sand." The boy groaned, wiping his forehead and wondering what to do. He knew that he wasn't supposed to panic, nor was he supposed to move, as that made it worse. He immediately looked around, trying to figure out exactly how he should go about getting out of this, especially considering the nearest bush was at least 5 feet away and didn't look sturdy enough to help him pull his weight out of the sinking sand. Tommy was already up to his knees, and shook his head, he couldn't think about how fast he was sinking. Tommy quickly ripped off his shirt, and started shredding it, trying to make a rope. It sounded like a plausible idea if he could some how loop the shirt around the bush to pull him out. His fingers worked quickly although he kept dropping pieces of the 'rope.' 

At the time that the sand was nearing his waist, Tommy made a loop in his shirt and flung it at the nearby bush, thanking God that it caught. He immediately started to use it to pull himself towards that area, panicking as he noticed a distinct rip in his rope that would leave him at a worse position than when he started. He tried to move quickly, depending more on his own strength than the endurance of the rope. The tear was getting worse with every tug that he used on the makeshift rope, and it looked like soon it would only be hanging on by a thread. 

Four feet, three feet, two feet ... The boy thanked the lord when he surpassed this rip, and that the bush held his weight. He quickly pulled himself out of the deadly sand, shaking his head. That was not fun, and now he was out of a shirt. He'd most likely have sunburn by the end of this - although that apparently was the least of his problems. 

The white ranger looked up to see distant stormy clouds, quickly hurtling in his direction. Well, maybe he wouldn't have sunburn after all. A more urgent one replaced this thought. There was lightning. Tommy looked around, suddenly feeling very very nervous. He was the tallest thing around, and lightning had a knack for hitting the tallest things in the area. 

"This might be bad." 

The boy quickly ran to the top of a hill, and noted a temple in the background, and immediately leapt off the hill, landing elegantly in the sand far below. He trudged through the sand as fast as he could, towards this godsend temple, just making it inside as the first raindrops started to fall. He was too busy panting to notice the slim figure of a girl run in after him, absolutely soaking wet. 

* * *

** AHAAA!! I hath returned! Many thanks to my lovely beta readers! C2 caught one of my almost 'whoopsies' where the story clashed with what has occurred on the tv show. Hehehehe *nervous laugh* Is it really that obvious that I haven't watched the show since.. forever ago? **

Sorry this is taking so long. I just got back from a long trip to Bejing and Tokyo (In two days I managed to visit three of the worlds Capitals - Bejing, Tokyo and Seoul) I was gone for two weeks and shopped like mad! In any event, I thought I should explain why I picked the five that I did and left Billy(A definite favorite) on Earth. Originally I wanted to choose Tommy, Kim, Jason, Rocky and Billy but the wonderful Molly9 (I think that's her name?) had already done that. Then I was thinking of Tommy Kim Trini Jason and Billy but I was thinking "Well Jee… that basically was the television series wasn't it?" so I wanted to a group that would be comfortable with each other, but hadn't actually worked together (Rocky and Trini basically which should be interesting) 

IN ANY EVENT! Fear not! If you want to see what's going on with the characters left on Earth.. well you'll eat those words.. (especially if you hate me for this chapter's cliffhanger) 

See you next time! 


	7. So happy together

I'M SO SORRY! I just started college and I was lazy and had a ton of writers block, I have the chapter 8 partially written, although I'm afraid you peopel will kill me for the ending of this chapter. So I promise to hurry up and finish Chapter 8. I'll see how much I can get done this weekend! Thanks for being so supportive!!!

* * *

Chapter 7 

"If you're a double, I really couldn't care less." Kim called out as she walked into the temple, staring at Tommy in slight amusement. He raised a brow as he spun around to stare at her. She was totally soaked to the bone, and was doing a wonderful impression of a drowned rat. A rather fetching rat, but nonetheless... 

"I could say the same for you. I've already been picked on by one of your kind." They looked at each other with raised eyebrows and matching expressions of tired amusement. 

"Jason." Kim finally said. 

"Trini." Tommy returned. 

"Trini?" 

"Trini." 

" Where you ever close to Trini?" 

"Not really.. but who knows, I guess the ruler of this Island just thought she'd be the one who could get to me. How should I know?" 

"You could just be a figment of my imagination, if that was the case you should know everything." Kim retorted smoothly. 

"Guess this makes me real then." 

"Oh yeah..? So tell me, what was my favorite fru-" 

"Rasberries." 

"And my per-" 

"4711. It was actually scented water, and you could only get it from Köln Germany." Tommy said, grinning triumphant at the slightly stunned look on her face. 

"I can't believe you still remember all that stuff." Kimberly murmured. 

"Don't you?" He asked softly, his gaze seeming to burn her. Kim blushed. 

"You liked blackberries - but only freshly picked. You used to steal them from the bushes in my garden." She returned. Tommy had the grace to look bashful. 

"Damn I didn't know you knew it was me stealing them." 

"Oh who else would it be?" 

"… good point." 

"And your favorite scent was..." Kimberly paused, as if having to try and remember it. "Ralph Lauren Polo Sport Men's Fragrance." She said, grinning. Tommy was surprised that he was holding his breath, waiting to see if she remembered. Idly he reminded himself that he had never taken the time to learn what Kat's favorite fruit was, or what sort of perfume she wore. Damn. He made a mental note to ask her once they got back. 

"What happened to you?" He asked, pointing to the still dripping clothes. 

"I had a date with a river." She murmured, wringing out her shirt in annoyance, "any reason you are no longer wearing a shirt?" 

"... quicksand." Tommy made a face as he said the word. 

"I'm guessing you didn't find yourself in a forest." 

"No... not quite." 

"Strange. I was in an oak forest. What was it called in science class? Deciduous?" 

"Temperate?" 

"You know, I never liked science. What were you in?" 

"Desert. I got the easy life zone to remember." He said with a grin. Kim rolled her eyes. 

"Jerk." He gave her a cocky grin and she found herself smiling back, but thoughts of earlier and him saying he wanted her to stay away from him fought into her brain and she decided to focus her thoughts elsewhere, so she wandered over to one of the columns of this strange temple. It was deep enough so that the light from the small entrance way faded quickly, leaving the rest in pitch black, not allowing them to truly know it's dimensions. Not that they would, considering this was some sort of isle of illusion. 

Tommy frowned as he saw the smile die in her eyes as well as upon her lips, a split second before she turned away to inspect one of the columns they could actually see. 

"What do you think it is?" He asked softly. Kimberly shrugged, still not looking at him. 

"Who knows. Probably our next test. Although why you're on my self discovery..." She trailed off shaking her head. Tommy almost smiled, he could think of a few reasons… the two of them, in an all dark temple... no one around for miles... he inwardly hit himself._ Think of Kat. Not Kim. Kat. Kat Kat Kat. Not Kim. Never Kim. Always Ki- Kat!Damnit! It was so much easier to pretend Kim didn't exist when she wasn't the only one around._

"I'm going crazy." He mumbled, pressing a hand to his forehead. 

"I don't suppose you have a flash light or a lighter in those jeans of yours?" He asked. The pink ranger turned to look at him, her gaze falling to her flared sopping wet jeans and she shook her head. 

"Can't say I smoke much. You know, being an athlete." 

"So I guess we just wing it. " He murmured, jerking his head towards the interior. Kimberly looked a little wary of either him or the temple - perhaps both - but she nodded and they started walking together side by side. 

"I'm reminded of Indiana Jones." Tommy muttered. 

"Me too. I'm expecting us to fall into a pit of snakes at any moment. Oh, and I'm expecting you to kill them." 

"Thanks a lot." He grumbled. Kim smiled in the darkness, blushing slightly when their hands brushed against each other. _Damnit Kim, he had a girlfriend! He wasn't interested! You broke up with him! Move on!_ She heard him take a shuddering breath, and she started in surprise. Surely, he wasn't affected? 

They walked on for ages, not quite sure what was going on, but one hand was always held out, as they shuffled forwards, feet keeping to the ground for as Kim had mentioned, who knew when a snake pit would arise? Or fall as the case may be. 

Soon however, there was a very constant hiss that seemed to be getting closer with every step they took. 

"I don't think that's a snake." Kim whispered, frowning slightly, shoulders tensing. 

"Shhh." Tom muttered under his breath, reaching out in the darkness and grabbing her hand, clasping it tightly. Kim squeezed slightly, frowning, as this hiss seemed to sway from the left to the right. 

"I'm reminded of the pit and the pendulum. Some how I don't think this is the pit," she said. Tommy merely quieted her again. Kim's grip on his hand grew tighter. There was suddenly a flare of light, and the two caught a glimpse of a swinging blade, coming right at them from the right. Kim could not repress a scream, but Tommy yanked her out of the way, watching as it sliced through the air where they had just been standing. 

"Please tell me that was the complete test," she said, eyes huge. The white ranger shook his head. 

"Some how, I doubt it." He murmured. Kimberly nodded. 

"Great." 

"Since when have you been the pessimist?" 

"Since I had giant blades swung at me trying to slice me in half vertically," she returned sarcastically. Tommy just shook his head, tsking at her before continuing down the darkness. 

"Where did the light come from?" She asked. 

"I don't' know. Maybe it was testing our reaction speed." 

"Lovely!" Kim grunted. Tommy merely shook his head again and dragged her as they walked. The pink ranger wasn't about to tell him that he could let go of her hand at any time. They didn't seem to be in danger at the moment. She rather liked having his hand holding hers. Call her a feminist's worst nightmare, but it was nice feeling protected. 

The duo continued in silence, wondering what was going to happen next. 

"Do you feel like we're sinking?" Kimberly finally asked. 

"Like we're going lower and lower... yeah. The air is getting cooler. I suppose even mystical islands can't get away from some of the laws of science." Tommy joked. Kimberly smiled. 

"I don't know, I'm expecting us to start floating at any moment." She replied. 

_I could think of a few ways to make you feel like you were floating._ Tommy added in his head, shaking his head a few times, as if trying to dislodge the thought. Since when he had become such a pervert? That was Rocky's job. 

"Cold." Kimberly mumbled, shivering slightly as they continued to walk at a descent. 

"Maybe we're about to meet something like an ice dragon." 

"Don't jinx us. And someone's been reading too many fantasy books." Kim returned. Tommy shrugged. 

"They're interesting. Much better than those junky romance novels you used to buy." 

"Trashy romance novels. They aren't junky, they're trashy." She corrected. Tommy laughed. 

"Forgive me. Much better than those trashy romance novels you used to buy." 

"And what's this 'used to' business?" She demanded. 

"You mean to tell me you still read them?" 

"Why not? One can never read too many happy endings." Tommy nodded. 

"Can't argue with that." 

_Do we get a happy ending?_Kim wondered, biting her lip. _Happy endings - with other people. Keep reminding yourself Kim, he has Kat. He's happy with her, she's my friend for Gods sake._ She stopped herself from sighing, wishing her heart didn't feel so heavy. Why was Tommy being so nice to her anyways? Was it just because they had to work together as a team? He had been so cold to her from the moment they were reunited. Not that she was complaining about this rather nice reprieve from the Tommy who acted as though she didn't exist. 

They were quiet for a while yet again each lost in their own thoughts, only interrupted when Kimberly shrieked in surprise, jumping in the air slightly. 

"Something just crawled over my foot." 

"Cute joke Kim." 

"Who's joking?" She demanded. "I do not see anyone joking." 

"Well we are in total darkness." His voice returned. Kimberly felt her cheeks flush. He wasn't supposed to be able to do that any more! And he was still holding onto her hand. 

"Fine. But if it happens again..." 

"You're allowed to throw it in my face." Tommy returned coolly. Kim nodded grimly. 

"I had better." She growled. He merely gave her hand a squeeze, alerting her that he obviously knew what he was doing, and didn't care. This only served to deepen her blush, and reminded her that she was grateful to have the darkness to hide her burning face. 

The two were silent as they continued down this odd path that neither could see anything on. Kim kept her free hand trailing along the wall she was walking next to, frowning as it grew inwards, forcing her to walk closer to the man currently holding her hand. 

"I think we're going to either turn back, or walk single file in a few moments." Tommy grumbled. Kim agreed, letting go of his hand, feeling strangely bereft, but she shoved the feeling down and let him walk ahead of her, she kept one hand gently on his shoulder. 

"You know, I think we made the wrong choice." She finally said, hoping that perhaps conversation would help her calm her churning stomach. 

"How so?" Tommy asked curiously, holding his hands out in front of him and shuffling across the floor - just to make sure there wasn't a pit along with the pendulum they had had to pass. 

"I think we should have just waited out the storm." Kim returned lightly. Tommy chuckled. 

"Now why would we do something like that?" He retorted. 

"You're right. It would have been too logical of an explanation for either of us." 

"I'm coming to believe that nothing on this island is logical." 

"Amen to that." Kim grumbled, "it probably would have continued to rain until we went down here." 

"You sure you're not a clone? You seem to know a lot about how this island works." Tommy teased. Kim hit him upside the head and he laughed before looking forwards and grinning. 

"It looks like the island decided to reward us for good behavior. Notice anything Kim?" 

"Not that I can see..." And Tommy grinned, Kim realized that she could see. She could see the gray of the stonewalls, and she could see Tommy's face as he looked over his shoulder to look at her - although it was still covered in shadows. She wondered how if he knew how yummy he looked without a shirt with the contours of his back highlighted by flickering shadows - produced from two flames that looked as though they had just been lit. Tommy picked one up, frowning at the fork that was before them. 

"I guess this is where we separate? I don't think the cave wants us double teaming it." Kim asked softly, inaudibly sighing as she slowly let go of Tommy's hand and picked up the torch. 

"I don't know. I don't like the thought of splitting up…" Tommy grumbled. Kim tried to smile at him in reassurance. 

"Don't worry Tommy. I can take care of myself. I'll take the right if you take the left?" Tommy ran a hand through his hair, eyeing her thoughtfully for a few moments. 

"Fine. But if you need any help, shout and I'll come alright?" Kim nodded. 

"Right. Good luck." She murmured before heading down her path. She felt a chill go down her spine as the path continued to go steadily downwards, and it grew colder. She bit her lip, keeping the flame in front of her and making sure that her eyes continued to flick from floor to ceiling to the walls. She really did feel as though she were in an Indiana Jones movie. The path came to a bend up ahead and Kim's thoughts to turned to Tommy. The girl looked over her shoulder at the darkness behind her, already missing his presence. 

When she turned back around, she promptly screamed in horror as she came nose to nose with a grotesque distorted figure. 

See ya next time!!! - Gel 


	8. Meanwhile, back at the ranch

Authors Notes:

**IMPORTANT SPORKTASTIC NEWS!ALIENS ARE INVADING! MEOW MIX MEOW MIX PLEASE DELIVER!**

Okay, now that I have your attention...I decided to go into a bit of detail as to exactly how much poetic license I'm taking with our wonderful rangers. ALRIGHT! Since I never got to the third season, I have no idea what the devil the machine empire is or what it does. Thus, Lord Zedd and Rita are still the Earth's main antagonists. Also, since I haven't seen the first movie yet (more on that after the chapter) didn't they get new powers? Ninjetti powers or something? Kim became a crane? So yeah, until I get a freakin clue Zedd still has putties since I honestly don't know if that changed. Also, yes Zack is the red ranger for the time being. I don't know why I did it that way, I just did. ** ALSO** I uh, want to put a vote out to my readers. We know that Tommy and Kim are gonna end up having wild shag fests, what other pairings should there be? Trini/Jason? Trini/Billy? Kat/Jason? Aisha/Rocky? Please tell me in your reviews what you think? (Cause honestly I see hints of all of those, well sans the Kat Jason one but that's because I refuse to watch power rangers after kim left) Without further ado - Chapter 8!

* * *

Chapter 8

Billy rubbed his eyes as he tiredly moved the mouse key, clicking every now and then. He had brought his laptop to the youth club and was now surfing the internet in boredom. Ernie had turned the youth center into a 'hot spot' allowing wireless internet access. His mind began to wander as it normally did when he was doing something less than mentally stimulating - and he was sure that playing a game where one caught bees in little bubbles did not count as being mentally stimulating. His wandering mind began to ponder movies and computers. He began to wonder why in almost every modern movie lately the person owned an Apple computer. Just another example as to why movies made today were not to be trusted. 

Now he would gladly argue that Apples were usually considered to be the better computers, and were much more aesthetically pleasing than the PC, but only 15 of the population actually used Apple computers. Now if you couldn't trust the movie people in Hollywood to make sure the Apple computer was used in only 15 of their films set in modern times, you really couldn't trust the actual plotline, especially if it was from the romantic comedy genre. Thus, it could be said pessimistically, in real life, the guy did not get the girl, couples did not make up by making out in the middle of a sidewalk, and 99 of the human population did not use Apple Computers. 

The blue ranger groaned, scowling as he ran out of time on the addicting game. Really he should have been doing something more productive than putting poor innocent bees into bubbles and inwardly griping about stupid romantic comedies, but he was too worried about the five who had disappeared earlier that day - the only one of which he had seen was Rocky during the power transfer. He didn't want to think of anything important, it would remind him that he didn't know the fates of five of his friends, there was nothing he could to do help them, and that they still had to come up with a good alibi for why they had gone missing. 

He clicked on the small button asking him if he wanted to play again, although he immediately clicked out of the game trying to look as though he had been working very hard on fighting techniques, strategy and all of that rot as Adam and Zach sat down next to him, both looking about as tense as he felt. 

"How are you feeling Zach?" Billy asked softly, the newly made red ranger shrugged. Zach had quickly become good friends with Adam, and Aisha, getting to know them better than their previous meeting had allowed. 

"Alright I suppose. It feels good to be a ranger again… despite the whole reason I'm here." He murmured, folding his arms on the desk and resting his chin on them, scowling slightly. 

"There should be no repercussions once Rocky comes back. You shouldn't go through the power withdrawal you did when you passed your powers to Adam." 

"Always a black ranger, just with a red tinge right?" Zach asked, offering him a ghost of a smile. Billy returned the smile. 

"Something like that." 

"Judging by those smiles, I've walked into a session of male bonding, haven't I?" A very bright and cheerful voice asked - Jonathan, looking as though Christmas had come early. He sat down eagerly, crossing his legs and leaning forward to listen intently to what the three men were talking about. "Don't stop just because I'm here. I've never been privy to male bonding conversations, now female bonding conversations, those are an entirely different story." Here the Floridian leaned in as though revealing a giant secret, "those rumors about them having pillow fights in their underwear and disclosing of their boyfriends horrible habits or what they want to change about him are all completely true." 

Silence reigned over the table as Adam, Zach and Billy eyed Jonathan as though he were absolutely mad. 

"Jonathan, have you ever been in a mental institution?" Adam asked, and one could not tell whether or not he was joking. Jonathan pursed his lips in silent contemplation. 

"The padded walls were quite amusing for the first few weeks, but service is deplorable, and the lack of cute male nurses leaves much to be desired, they didn't even leave a mint on my pillow!" He finally replied. The silence resumed for a few moments before Jonathan could take the blow to his ego no longer and demanded an explanation. 

"Well I thought it was funny." He retorted. 

"Sorry John." Zach muttered, "We just uh ... left our senses of humor at home today." Jonathan waved it off and grinned. 

"Have any of you seen Kimmie? We were supposed to meet today but Aisha said she left early this morning, but wouldn't tell me where. Jason was missing as well when I woke up…" 

"I'm sorry… can't help you with that one. I have no idea where Kim or Jason are." Adam answered truthfully. Billy and Zach nodded in agreement. 

"So the only ones missing are Kim and Jason?" Jonathan asked curiously. 

"As far as we know." Billy murmured; he hated how easy it was to lie. 

"A boy and a girl missing. A mystery for me to solve eh…" His eyes grew unfocused, and one could tell he was deep in thought over this mystery. The table was quiet for quite a long while, and Billy was starting to get just a teensy bit nervous. 

"I've GOT IT!" Jonathan finally exclaimed, slamming his fist on the table and making the other three jump. They eyed him curiously as he grinned. 

"Jason and Kim were having an affair and decided to elope!" Zach's smoothie went flying - right onto Billy's computer. Neither apparently noticed as they stared at the gay man as though he had grown another head. 

"Excuse me?" 

"Well, they're both missing, no one knows where they went… and Kim was pretty adamant about me not going after Jason with that silly excuse that he was straight! Bah! The little hussy wanted him for herself all the while moaning about still loving Tommy and how she wished she hadn't sent that silly little letter. Now I'll admit that Tommy has one hell of an ass, but Jason isn't taken and he and Kim have been close for a while… and who better to run to for comfort as she realizes Tommy isn't the one? Plus they'd make an aesthetically pleasing couple." 

"You know… he does have a point, they are rather aesthetically pleasing." Zach trailed off, Billy and Adam smacked him upside the head. Jonathan sighed, eyes trailing to the sky as he wondered where Kim really was. Probably off kicking butt, getting dirty and sweaty and ruining her hair. He wondered if she had remembered to pack that special moisturizing shampoo. Who knew how much moisture and natural oil Space would just suck up from her poor innocent hair? So lost in his thoughts of proper hair care, he barely noticed Kat and Aisha sitting down on either side of him, and his attention wasn't brought back to the table until both prodded him with forks. 

"Jason and Kim ran away and eloped in Las Vegas." He told them. Aisha snorted. 

"And I'm getting a sex change next week because I've fallen in love with you John." She told him sarcastically. Jonathan fluttered his eyelashes. 

"Why Aisha I'm flattered you'd go so far just to be with little old me." He returned. She smacked him. 

"I have important news for the female gender. All that men discuss during male bonding sessions is the sanity of members of their own gender." Jonathan said solemnly, taking a sip of Kat's soda and grinning when she glared at him. "So where's Tommy, Kat?" The girl remained stoic and shrugged. 

"I'm just his girlfriend, not his babysitter." 

"AHA! And you all said Jason wasn't gay! He's BI!" Jonathan whimpered, "There's an orgy going on and I'm not part of it…" Luckily he managed to dodge any kicks or punches sent in his direction. 

"Gymnasts," Adam grumbled to himself sullenly gazing at Jonathan who had leaned back in his chair, curling his hands behind his head and looking totally innocent. 

Billy narrowed his eyes as he stared at the male gymnast. Something told Billy that Jonathan knew more than he was letting on. He doubted that Kim had made plans to meet up with Jonathan today, and it seemed as though everything Jonathan said was staged. Good lord, one could almost say this scene was playing out like a bad romantic comedy. He eyed his poor sizzling computer in annoyance – an Apple. Damn it. 

"Did Kim tell you anything at the beach yesterday?" He asked, a suspicion growing in his mind. 

"Yes." The gay man replied quietly, eyes downcast. Jonathan immediately became very serious. He tilted his chair forward, scooted in, looked around as though nervous someone would over hear before leaning in. 

"Well?" Billy asked. The rest of the rangers looked rather tense, Adam's hands curling slightly into a fist, Zack having a fry halfway to his mouth. The tension was so thick someone could have cut through it with a knife. 

"She said…" Jonathan trailed off, eyes darkening. 

"Yes?" Kat leaded on, waving her hand for him to continue. 

"She said it's always best to use SPF of at least 35 to prevent Skin Cancer." Zach fell out of his chair. Before Kat and Aisha could curl their fingers around Jonathan's throat to throttle him, he quickly stood up and laughed robustly. 

"Ah my dear friends you are too too fun!" 

"Jonathan…" Aisha warned, eyes narrowed. 

"Yes my darling Aisha?" 

"You have exactly ten seconds to run for your life before I kill you." 

"Point taken. Goodbye my lovely Angel Grove friends! I must be off to my latest obsession – martial arts classes. I blame all of you. Just seeing all those gorgeous well built men getting sweaty and wrestling with each other-" 

"Jonathan." Aisha warned. 

"Right. Ta Ta!" With that Jonathan gave them all a bright smile, and a half wave before walking out. He flicked his hair, and pressed his sunglasses to his nose before strutting out of the Youth Center. 

"Do you think Kim told him the truth about us?" Adam asked quietly, making a slight face as he watched Jonathan leave. However, before anyone could answer the question, all heard a familiar sound. They stared at their communicators in dismay. 

"Damn it." Zach muttered softly, making a face. 

"Rangers, attack a few hundred feet south of there." Zordon's voice called over the small devices. 

"We're on it." Kat replied, as the group of five stood up. Billy tucked his ruined computer under the table, keeping it hidden from sight - not that anyone would try and use it considering the milk shake still causing the machine to sizzle and send out a shower of sparks every once and a while. They ran out of the youth center, halting as they noted Jonathan eyeing Zedd's monsters in annoyance as they circled around him making those odd noises. 

"All clear?" Billy asked, Aisha gave him a curt nod and they quickly transformed and ran over – just in time to overhear Jonathan chastising the creatures on their fashion faux pas. 

"That evil Zedd guy seriously needs to get with the program. White spandex outfits went out ages ago and should never be brought back again. Plus considering the fact that people wearing that exact same outfit have always been beaten one would think that it would lower your moral." Jonathan prattled on, not seeming to care too much about the fight going on around him. He raised an eyebrow as Adam threw a flying sidekick at the Z on the putty's chest. The putty landed at Jonathan's feet and immediately broke up into clay that disappeared. 

"Ah I see, so you're not alive to truly appreciate good fashion. Perhaps Zedd should consider a different color than gray. Gray's such a bland color. He might look into play-doh, those are bright cheerful colors and everyone knows evil war lords need bright cheerful lackeys. Happy workers work harder." He blinked a few times and looked around, noting that all that were left were the Power Rangers. He grinned but before he could even begin on his little speech on their fashion faux pas, the Red Ranger waved his hand. 

"No time to chat. Let's head back to the command center." He replied as they disappeared in their respective colors of light. Jonathan shook his head. 

"They really need to get voice alteration devices implanted in their helmets." Jonathan murmured as he started whistling and walking down the street, idly wondering whether or not there was a Jack-in-the-Box nearby, he wanted an oreo milkshake. 

Meanwhile; 

The Power Rangers had teleported back to the Command Center, looking ready for action. 

"What's happened Zordon?" Adam asked; frowning as the five rangers looked at the viewing globe. 

"Zedd has sent down another monster, once again trying to destroy you all and take over the world." 

"What's so great about taking over the world anyways? We're some tiny little planet in some corner of an out of the way galaxy. You'd think Zedd would have something better to do you know?" Aisha grumbled, scowling as they watched a can of Mountain-Dew transform into a huge green and red monster – its face being the top of the can, mouth being the hole and nose being the tab. 

"What does this monster do? Give us a caffeine rush?" Kat asked offhandedly, smiling in satisfaction as a few of her team mates snickered. 

"You are not far off the mark Pink Ranger." Zordon replied, "Zedd has filled the Dew monster with sugar from pixie sticks, creating a glucose which if it hits you will drain you of your powers and take away your energy. Good luck Rangers and May the power protect you." 

"Let's get rid of this thing before it destroys any more of the city." Billy murmured. 

"Yeah, Rocky'll kill us if house insurance rates go up any further." Aisha added with a small giggle as they transported out and into action. 

"I'll be happy if I never see another can of soda again." Kat groaned as her head landed on the table. They had just wiped out the mountain dew can from hell, and had returned to what they had previously been doing – lounging around. 

"Heh, I'll just remind you of that statement next time you need to stay up studying for a midterm." Aisha told her brightly. 

"It was difficult without Tommy." Billy murmured quietly, frowning thoughtfully as he fished out his computer and sighed wondering how much he would be able to salvage. 

"But not as hard as I thought it would be." Adam added with a small shy smile. "We did defeat him after all, and Zedd didn't seem to notice. Odd considering I had the feeling he was constantly spying on us." 

"A few weeks ago Alpha and I installed a blocking device; it takes a lot more of Zedd's power and energy to spy on us. Let's just hope that Zedd's monsters do not report the lack of the white ranger." 

"We could always find a replacement for the time being." Aisha said with amusement twinkling in her eyes. The five looked over at Jonathan who was walking through the door, each remembering the little lecture he had given the putties earlier that day. The group shook their heads and burst out laughing. 

"Despite all we've been through, I don't think the power rangers are prepared for someone like Jonathan."

* * *

Eh, if you're still paying attention to me.. (and haven't pulled out weapons with which to witchhunt me with considering I still haven't resolved the cliffie from the last chapter...) I must make mention of something. Does anybody know where I can download seaspon 1 and 2 power ranger episodes? I spent well over a month downloading season 2 but the episodes I wanted to see (particularly that storybook thingy and the wild west ranger thingy) were either not there or ruined (DAMN YOU! I WANTED TO SEE THE END OF THE WILD WEST RANGER THINGY WITH KIM GOING BACK!) I also downloaded season 1, but out of 60 episodes 16 were missing. Including the first two episoes, the green with evil whole mini series, island of illusion mini series, green candle mini series and so forth. RAWRG!SNARL!HISS!GROWL! (No. I'm not bitter. Really.) I used suprnova . org (damn fanfiction and its funky ways) if anyone was curious. 

Perhaps I should start a petition to Fox to get them to release seasons 1 and 2 on DVD box sets.. yes? no? (Tries not to imagine Fox people laughing their heads off at email from annoyed 18 year old girl demanding power rangers) 


	9. Contemplation

Chapter 9

* * *

Kim promptly shut her mouth, realizing the grotesque and indeed terrifying face belonged to a creature made of stone that didn't appear to be moving soon. She was reminded of the horrific gargoyles on top of the cathedrals she had seen when visiting Paris. 

Her eyes lost their terrified gleam in low of curiosity. She stared at the strange being, nibbling on her lower lip. Its mouth was open showing off large canine fangs, it had a grimacing howling face and a large body covered in spikes. She scrunched her nose. It was most definitely uglier than the gargoyles. 

"What on earth..." she murmured aloud as she noticed another statue behind the first. She looked up, noticing the bend had opened into a large cavern shaped somewhat like a bottle. This statue was merely the first in an army of stone statues. Each and every one – from which she could tell – were unique, although not any less ugly than the first one. 

"An army of stone." She whispered to herself, shoulders tensing. She felt a chill run down her spine as though someone had replaced the blood in her veins with ice. Her fingers tightened around the torch in her hands, wondering if these things were suddenly going to wake up and attack her. She was a fairly good martial artist, but she doubted whether or not even all the power rangers could handle what looked to be hundreds of these creatures. Tentatively she inched past the first 'soldier' steadily, but slowly walking towards the tunnel which continued past this large cavern. 

About half way through she felt her shoulders relaxing. It didn't look as though they were going to attack, although they did still give her the creeps. Kimberly swallowed feeling a lump form in her throat. Was this what it was like to be deaf? It was as though sound no longer existed. No, she could hear her heart pounding, the sound of her steps echoed and bounced along the walls. She felt very alone, despite the statues. 

"What are you guarding?" she asked one of the soldiers softly, still hesitant in breaking the suffocating silence that seemed to be overwhelming the room. They looked so lifelike, so realistic, so detailed; her subconscious almost expected an answer. 

"They are guarding me." A soft and amiable voice whispered, seemingly right into Kim's ears. She jumped up, a cry of surprise escaping her voice. 

"I am afraid you turned down the wrong path young one." Her heart stopped as her torch flickered out, leaving her in total darkness. 

The cavern shook with a final plaintive cry and all was silent once more.

* * *

Tommy had a few very good reasons why he hadn't reacted nor heard Kimberly's screams of terror. Firstly, he was surrounded by five or six, no make that seven large drooling creatures that resembled snakes. Their eyes were narrow angry red slits; their mouths open in a constant hiss that boarded on a high pitched wail. Tommy thought that if he ever heard a banshee, she would sound very similar to these snake creatures. Each had huge fangs at least three inches long, and dripping with a rather nasty venom he was trying desperately to dodge, whilst still valiantly attempting to fight them. He had dropped his torch as soon as the first had appeared, but the torch was still burning – thank god. Secondly, even if he had heard Kim's screams over the shrieks of these strange snake creatures, he couldn't run to get her anyways. When he had looked at the tunnel he had come through, he merely saw a wall. The tunnel had sealed itself off with solid granite. 

He cursed as venom narrowly missed his sneakers. Tommy did a very low sweep, kicking the feet out from under one of the creatures, nodding as the back of its head slammed into the ground. He winced and covered his ears as best he could as it began to wail eerily. He kicked another one on the back of its head. The neck snapped and the white ranger grinned. 

"So that's how it's done." 

He promptly set out to get rid of the rest of the snakes, kicking off one of his shoes when he miss-stepped and landed into one of the puddles of venom. He shot a rather woeful glance at his quickly disintegrating sneaker. At least it wasn't one of his toes, or his Air Jordan's. 

Soon all seven creatures were dead and Tommy continued on his way. He cast a glance at the sealed entrance, a small frown of worry marring his face. 

"Kim." He murmured softly. Tommy shook his head. She could handle herself. He had faith in her abilities. He just… he didn't like not being there for her incase she… he shook his head again. What the hell was he thinking? She wasn't his to protect. He didn't want to protect her right? Right? Right. His brow furrowed and his jaw tightened slightly. 

It was just easier to keep all of this in mind when she wasn't the only one around and the only member of the real rangers he'd come across on this island. Now that he thought about it, it was rather odd that they had been conversing in the cavern almost like they used to. Even back in space before Rocky had showed up, she had been the one to instigate the conversation, despite telling him she'd just leave him alone. He wasn't complaining, he just wished he could have a glance inside her head and figure out what the hell was going on in there. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Girls were so damn confusing. 

It was hard to remain angry at her and act like a petulant child when they were each others only company. He made a face. One look into those warm caramel colored eyes turned him from a mature reasonable young adult to a ridiculously stupid stuttering green boy with his first crush. Perhaps that was it. She would be companionable when they were both hungry for human companionship? When the others were around, they'd go back to ignoring each other. It's almost like a secret relationship. Tommy smacked his forehead. What was he thinking?! Besides, he'd moved on! So had she for that matter. 

"I'm not a fool." He told himself firmly, pushing the conversation with the Trini doppelganger from his mind. He turned to look at the sealed off tunnel once more and sighed before continuing to walk. 

Tommy soon came across an archway with steps leading down. He frowned, but nonetheless followed them down. The stairway opened into a large cavern with a huge lake spanning from wall to wall. In fact the last step down was below the water. Tommy leaned over as far as he dared, holding the torch up and squinted, noticing a dark archway on the far end. He let out a low whistle as he noted the huge stalactites spanning across the ceiling of the cavern. They hung low over the water, as though admiring their massive reflections in the golden light flickering from his torch. The flame continued to flicker somewhat weakly, the light exaggerating and emphasizing the crevices and pockets marring the stone surfaces of the walls. Tommy stared in open mouthed awe. One thing could be said for this island, it really did put on a show. He scratched the back of his head, messing with his hair as he theorized on how to get across the glassy still waters. He wondered if the water was dangerous to touch, much less swim in.

He really didn't feel like taking a swim anyways. Only one way to find out. Tommy took off his other sneaker and dipped the toe into the water. He took it as a good sign that it didn't start hissing and dissolving. Cautiously he dipped the tip of his pinky finger in, but if he disregarded the freezing temperature it seemed harmless enough. 

Tommy was a decent swimmer, having gone on such excursions that involved scuba diving and such, and it seemed the most logical thing to do. He supposed he could crawl along the pockets and crevices along the walls, but who knew what was lurking in them just waiting to bite his fingers off. Of course… who knew what was in the water waiting to make his legs into a yummy snack. 

"Well, then you better swim fast." He told himself, wondering if he could swim without one of his hands. Tommy sighed, deciding it was probably best to leave the torch behind. He noted a small holding for it and put it inside, smiling slightly as the flame increased, brightening the room. Without further ado, he dove in and quickly swam to the other side. Despite his speed, and the excursion linked with swimming he was freezing as he pulled himself out, shaking his hair. He rubbed his hands together, breathing on them – scowling as he realized he could see his own breath. 

"Stupid Island. I might be slightly infatuated with Kim, but that didn't mean I needed a cold shower." 

He walked blindly along the tunnel, finally encountering a block. He felt around the tunnel, frowning as he realized there were no turn offs. He went back to the blockade, realizing the texture felt different from the cool stone. In fact, it felt slightly warm to his numb hands, and felt like wood. His hands lightly traced over it, encountering a small piece of metal and he grinned. A door. How nice of the island. It was about bloody time. The boy quickly pulled down on the handle, pushing his way through and immediately covering his eyes as he was blinded by bright light. He kept his eyes closed for a few more minutes, slowly cracking one eye open, then when he didn't believe what he was seeing, he opened the other. 

Tommy had found himself in a huge room, reminding him of a front entrance way of a palace. He was standing on a huge marble floor, spanning at least a hundred feet to the right and left before finally hitting a wall. There were dozens of large diamond chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, casting rainbows of golden light along the walls. The room glittered and sparkled. But the best part of the room, the part that made Tommy grin was the staircase. It was, as was everything in this room, huge, going up before splitting in half. It reminded him of the Grand Staircase of the Paris Opera House he had on a postcard from Kim. Even better than the marble staircase with its gold plated wooden rails and velvet red carpet down the center, were Rocky, Jason and Trini sprawled out lazily, chatting. 

"Now are you real or not?" Tommy asked lightly, walking over. 

"Tommy Tommy Tommy, where have you been? What took you so long? We've been waiting forever!" Rocky complained, not getting up from his spot lying down on the lowest step. Jason and Trini exchanged a look as Jason stood up to pat Tommy on the back. 

"They refuse to feed us until we're all together." Trini explained dryly, poking the boy in the stomach. 

"Suddenly Rocky's happiness at seeing me makes complete sense." Tommy grumbled, rolling his eyes. 

"We thought that'd clear up any confusion you might have had." Trini replied with a winning grin. Rocky pouted. 

"Now if Kim would just hurry up we could get some food." 

"We don't even know if they have anything you'd like." Jason pointed out. 

"If Rocky's anything like Zach, any sort of food would suit him." Trini said lightly, she and Jason sharing a good laugh at Rocky's expense. 

"Who exactly told you about eating?" Tommy suddenly asked. Jason pointed at something behind him. When the white ranger turned around, he saw five doors being guarded. His brows furrowed in slight confusion as all the guards were draped from head to toe in layers of silver cloth. Loose pants similar to the hakama worn in martial arts were under long sleeved loose fitting tunics with bell shaped sleeves. All five wore large headpieces paralleling their eyebrows to create a V on their foreheads. The only thing Tommy could see of their skin were their faces – all carefully blank, and each with a distinct strange beauty that couldn't be immediately identified as being either male or female. 

"They understand us, understand English, French and Spanish apparently, but can't, or won't respond except to yes or no questions, and sometimes even those they ignore. We've had to play twenty questions just to get a little bit of information." Trini muttered, signs of remembered frustration crossing her features. Tommy noted the slight glows around the doors, four were gold. He wondered if that signified completion of the journeys. He looked over to the final door shrouded in shadows and frowned in slight worry. 

Tommy shook off the small twinge of guilt forming in his stomach as he wondered whether it would have been better had they stayed together. Tommy turned back to his friends and he sat down, asking about their journeys of self discovery. Rocky immediately jumped onto the subject, displaying a huge shredded portion of his red over shirt, describing the vicious mountain goats that had attacked him. 

"Goats Tommy! There were goats!" 

"Vicious ones even." Trini added dryly. Tommy laughed. 

"You'd think after battling all the monsters you have, a goat wouldn't get such a fierce reaction." Tommy replied. Rocky scoffed. 

"They were goats." The group laughed again as Rocky continued to describe his journey through the mountains. Every once and a while Tommy looked over to the dark door, a frown finding its way into his eyes. 

"What happened to you bro?" Jason asked suddenly. Tommy glanced back and smiled. 

"Kim and I ended up in the same temple. I don't know how, and I know it was the real Kim." Tommy luckily missed the apprehensive glances their bodyguards shared at overhearing that specific piece of information. 

Trini tried to smile in order to lighten the gloom settling over the group. 

"I'm sure she's just fine. She might have gotten distracted by something. Hell, she might have made friends with any creatures she might have faced – even goats." Jason attempted to return Trini's smile, lips forming more of a worried grimace than anything. All of their eyes went back to the fifth door. "Come on Kim... where are you?" Tommy whispered to himself. The door remained dismally black.

* * *

Hellooooo!!!! Yes it's been a while and I do apologize. However I do have some good news and bad news and just all around news.  
I should mention I'm not done totally screwing over the PR Universe, so you hath been warned. Also, Chapter 10 is the LAST chapter of this arc. After chapter ten they go off to save the universe. Aren't you excited?! The other good news is that it's probably going to be a loooong chapter as I have a TON of stuff to cover. However, as it's going to be about twice the length of this chapter, it may take a while to write it and I apologize! I pledge to try and write faster. I love you all for sticking with me this long! I'm getting to the fun part! 


	10. The power of Barbie

Kim smelled gardenia. Her nostrils twitched at the familiar overwhelming scent. However, when she tried to open her eyes, she realized she couldn't. It wasn't that she was in great pain, more that she was extremely weak. It was as though she had run a triathlon, and then had one of her more strenuous workouts with Schmidt, followed by a brisk run up Mount Everest. The thought of opening her eyes seemed like too heavy a task for her to complete. No matter how hard she tried it didn't seem her eyes wanted to open. She tried to remember what could have possibly happened to her to make her feel like this. Certainly this wasn't a hangover was like, and if it was, she was never ever going to drink alcohol. She racked her brain, trying to remember why she was so tired. The girl moaned softly and even that seemed to hard a task to complete any more. She was starting to get a headache, zapping the last of her strength. 

There was a small deep chuckle beside her, but for the life of her, she couldn't place the voice. 

"Stubborn girl aren't you? You weren't supposed to wake up for another hour or so." the warm voice murmured, soft and gentle. Her eyelids flickered slightly as she tried to see who was talking to her. "Oh don't open them yet, take your time." The voice said jovially, "we have all the time in the world. Although I must say if your friends heard me say that they might punch me," A pause, "or at least try to punch me." 

Punch him? She wondered, although she became more concerned with the mention of her friends. A few flashes of memory hit her like an oncoming train. The island! God was she still on the island! Was she dead? Were her friends alright? Tommy! What had happened to him? She wanted to demand answers from the pleasant voice to her right but couldn't seem to open her parched lips. She settled for moaning again and felt a very soft cloth pressed to her forehead. 

"You're going to be fine. Your friends are fine. Everything's fine. Well not everything, but currently life is pretty fine." The voice came again, acting like a salve on her frazzled nerves. 

"Fine." Kim repeated, the word almost too soft to truly hear, focusing once more on the scent of gardenia, as she fell back into unconsciousness.

* * *

Tommy Oliver was pacing. He had never truly cared for the act before, thinking it was wasted energy that could be put to better use. That and he had never fully understood the whole idea of why people would want to walk back and forth, back and forth, it just looked dizzying. However, he was also frustrated, frazzled and furious, a lethal combination indeed. His eyes glanced over to his three friends who all had varying degrees of worry and fury on their faces. Jason was periodically clenching his fists slowly; Rocky was jiggling his leg and drumming his fingers against his thigh, and Trini… Trini wasn't moving at all. Her face was white, and muscles so tense she looked brittle, as though the lightest of feathers could break her. 

Tommy ran a hand through his hair as his eyes went to the now gold lit door that had burst open at least forty minutes ago. An older man had run through, an unconscious Kim flopped over in his arms looking quite like a dead fish. That in and of itself was worrying, but added to the fact that Kim's skin was gray and looked to almost be made out of stone did not help the situation. What made it even worse was the man holding Kim had poofed, quite literally poofed in a cloud of smoke, Kim going with him. 

The four teens hadn't had time to react, to do anything at all. No one was telling them anything about where their friend was; in fact it was almost as if the power rangers had been forgotten for the time being. 

Not one of the four had spoken yet, each simply wallowing in his or her own distress. The only sound was the constant tap tap tap of Tommy's feet on the marble floors as he paced by the staircase. The quiet was disquieting and starting to grate on Tommy's nerves, hell everything was starting to grate on his nerves. He caught himself grinding his teeth and realized it wouldn't be long before one of the four snapped. 

"God Damn it!" Jason finally cursed, his fist slamming into the stair he was sitting on. Rocky stopped jiggling his leg even as Trini scooted closer to the first red ranger. Jason immediately leaned his elbows on his knees, fingers gripping at his scalp and tugging lightly. 

"I can't take this waiting." He snarled, "what did they do to Kim!" Trini immediately rested a hand on his shoulder, rubbing his back gently. 

"I don't think Kim and Tommy were supposed to meet on their quests." Trini murmured softly, brows furrowing slightly, "perhaps Kim came across something she wasn't supposed to." Tommy froze, scowling slightly. Why did they decide to split up in the first place? What if she had come across some of the monsters he had, and hadn't missed the venom? His fists tightened at his sides. However, before he had a chance to respond, a tall woman appeared at the top of the stairs. Her skin was the color of coffee, and she had large bright eyes. She wore a long red robe that dragged slightly on the floor – it was no small surprise she didn't trip. Although one look at her regal face with its expression of deep pride and dignity and one couldn't imagine this woman ever falling in her life, or even miss-stepping for that matter. 

"Sorry to keep you waiting." She murmured with a stiff and very slight nod of her head, "If you will please, we will begin the ceremony." Her voice demanded silent obedience; obviously no one had ever paused to question her commands before. Tommy was one step away from demanding where Kim was, when Rocky beat him to it. 

"First you tell us what happened to Kim. Then we might consider this ceremony." Rocky said quietly, face taut. The woman's expression remained pleasant. 

"She will meet you there." 

"What happened to her?" Tommy finally asked, moving up a step, his fists clenched at his sides. The woman tilted her head slightly. 

"I believe there is another who can answer that question, and he will be most pleased to do so." She gestured to the doors still gently glowing gold. 

"If you would be so kind… I assure you the process is painless and simple." She said coolly. No one moved. "I might also mention you will see your comrade only after you receive your powers." The rangers – if they wanted to find Kim – had no choice but to do as she asked. 

Jason and Tommy shot her annoyed glares, but all four walked to their respective doors. Tommy took a deep breath as his fingers touched the handle. 

"Let's do this." He whispered before walking through.

* * *

When Kim awoke a second time, she felt almost back to normal. The smell of gardenia was still heavy, but now it was pleasant rather than suffocating. Her eyes slowly fluttered open, revealing her clear hazel eyes. A pair of bright green ones was staring back at her. 

"Hello there," green-eyes chirped brightly. Kim recognized his as the voice from when she had woken up the first time. She blinked, "I trust you're feeling better?" he inquired. She blinked again, allowing herself to focus on the rest of his face. He was very fair, with bushy sandy hair and a well kept sandy beard. There was an age-old wisdom in his eyes, mixing pleasantly with a spark of youthful mischief. Kim found herself immediately liking him. 

"Why does it smell like Gardenia?" she murmured softly, finally finding her voice. He grinned cheekily at her. 

"You are in one of the rooms of the healing springs." 

"Why?" Kim asked, confused. 

"Because my dear, I did not think you wanted to be turned into a statue." She stared at him thoughtfully for a moment. 

"Oh." 

"I trust it's a rather painful experience considering the expression on your face earlier today, right after you screamed." He told her, tapping his chin thoughtfully. 

"I seem to have done that a lot today." Kim muttered, "You'll have to be more specific." He laughed, nodding to himself and stippling his fingers. 

"I knew I'd like you, despite your spectacularly bad luck." He announced, obviously pleased "the screech you let out when you found my army of stone." He reminded her. Kim frowned. 

"Oh that." 

"Yes that." He added lightly, before standing up. She noted that he was very lanky, and seemed to be bursting with energy. "Well, shall we get to it then Kimberly?" 

"Get to what?" 

"Well you need to accept your powers, and then join up with your friends. Then I believe the plan is to save the universe. Sounds like a load of fun if you ask me. Wish I was going." He said, bouncing on the balls of his feet. Kim very slowly sat up; raising a hand to brush away a strand of hair, freezing as she noted that her arm was clad in a gauzy white sleeve. The man cleared his throat. 

"You might consider tying that up, unless the fashion these days is to keep your shirt half open." He said politely, even as he blatantly looked, eyes twinkling. She looked down to realize the soft material was gaping open, revealing the swells of her breasts, and her toned stomach all the way down to her naval. She immediately clenched the pieces together. 

"There's a tie inside." He added, starting to whistle, hands clasped behind his back. Kim quickly knotted together the gauzy robe/dress, and completed the look with a silver roped cord whose tassels swung down to her ankles, even though she had wrapped the cord twice around her waist. 

"You look quite attractive. This is a rare treat for me; I hardly get to talk to college girls." He told her, offering her his arm and leading her out of the very white room. Kim returned his grin. 

"Thank you." She told him brightly, "and thanks for uh...saving me from being a statue." 

"You're most welcome, although you would have made a lovely statue…for my garden perhaps." He told her sweetly, she knew immediately he was merely teasing. Kim laughed and shook her head. 

"I forgot to ask who you are exactly?" she asked, realizing how odd how easily she had taken to him. 

"Call me Arthur." He told her with a gallant bow, taking her hand and brushing a very light kiss across her knuckles. He retook her arm, linking it with his and led her into a large entrance room with five doors along one wall. Kim's eyes widened as she saw Trini walk through the nearest one, but even as she called out to her friend Trini disappeared. She frowned. 

"Don't worry, you shall see them soon." Arthur reassured her, patting her arm. Kim nodded as he led her to the last door along the wall, "just step through and you might find your destiny." He paused, "good lord that sounded…" 

"Corny?" Kim offered with a small polite grin. He mock scowled at her. 

"I was going to say melodramatic. Now hurry up and get in there young lady!" 

"Right away sir," She said with a small jaunty salute.

* * *

Tommy found himself staring at a jungle. However, he didn't notice any of the creatures surrounding him save one – a tiger which was crouched in front of him, looking ready to pounce. 

He held his breath, muscles frozen in terror. Honestly what did one do when in a staring contest with a creature with very scary teeth and claws? Surely he can be forgiven this once for being frightened. He couldn't seem to tear his eyes away from the intelligent pair set in that furry face. That is, until the tiger let out a very low growl. Tommy's shoulders stiffened, fingers curling up into fists, his knuckles turning white. The tiger's muscles tensed before the creature's powerful back legs pushed off, shooting the massive creature out at him. Tommy's hands immediately came up to protect himself, preparing for the huge weight that was about to slam into him. He continued to wait. 

….nothing happened. No, that wasn't true. There was a strange power forming in his chest, spreading all the way from his finger tips to his very toes. He felt strong, powerful, and unstoppable. He blinked in surprise, frowning as he realized his eyesight was keener, better suited for hunting. He immediately pushed down the odd desire to hunt, to kill. It was hard to imagine, but he could actually feel the tiger inside of him, pacing, waiting. He finally looked down to his hands, eyes widening as he realized he was now clad in a suit striped with silver, white and black. Tommy grinned. It seemed he could never truly escape being a white tiger. He reached around his helmet, finding the clasp and taking the thing off, giving his head a quick shake. When next he blinked, he saw the woman in red standing before him. 

"Congratulations Tommy." She murmured, holding her hands out. 

"What happened?" he asked cautiously. She smiled. 

"You were chosen to represent the tiger. Aggressive, straightforward and strong." She told him gently, "You now are in possession of the qualities that define tigers, of which you will discover on your quest. And as you are a white tiger, you will control the element of ice." He flexed his fingers, squeezing them into a fist and marveling at the added strength he felt. 

"And my friends?" he demanded. The woman gestured behind him. He spun around, finding the doorway had opened again. 

"One moment before you go out Tommy," She said, he immediately halted and turned back to look at her. She smiled. 

"It would be wise to power down before you leave." 

"How?" 

"Your medallion." she replied automatically, "it works similar to your morphing powers. When you want to power up simply call out 'Shaolin Tiger' and when you want to power down you have to give the buttons on your belt a small push." He did so, once more clad only in jeans and his shirt, his shoes were still missing. 

"Return to the main foyer and we can send you and your comrades on your way." He nodded, turning and walking through the doorway, and the first thing he saw was… 

"Kim!" Jason shouted, grabbing the girl and hugging her so tightly her feet were lifted off the floor. She laughed and kicked up her legs. Tommy's jaw dropped at the sight of her. Looking like an angel garbed in white, without even a trace of gray to her skin. Hell, the white brought out her peaches and cream complexion. He had always wondered what she'd look like dressed totally in his signature color – although at the time he had imagined it, the white gown was always a bit more frilly and lacy and came with a veil. 

"Where the devil have you been?" Jason demanded. Kim offered him a sheepish smile which immediately turned into a shriek as he tickled her in the stomach as revenge. 

Tommy allowed himself a small smile at that, she always had been rather ticklish. Tommy remembered all the times his own fingers had trailed to her stomach. She would shriek, push away and curl up before ending up pouting. The pout itself was adorable really and one of the reasons he used to tickle her in the first place. Now that pout was directed at Jason. Tommy's fingers curled into a fist, his jaw clenching slightly. He took a few deep breaths forcing himself to relax, reminding himself that jealousy was really not becoming, and it wasn't his place to be jealous in the first place. If Kim wanted to pout adorably at Jason well that was her prerogative. 

"Jason what are you doing?" She demanded, sidestepping him as he tried to tickle her again. 

"Making sure you're still flesh and blood and not stone." He informed her. She slapped his hands away before wrapping her arms around her stomach again to protect it from any more attacks. 

"You letch, I know you really just want to cop a feel." 

"That's practically incest." He informed her brightly. 

"There once was a time when you wouldn't have said that. Like when I ended up straddling your hips at the carnival before we were attacked by the Pineoctopus…Your face matched your ranger suit and you were walking around uncomfortably for the rest of the day…" she trailed off. Tommy raised an eyebrow. What? When was this? She smirked at Jason's sudden sheepish expression and the slight blush that graced his cheeks, "I promise you I'm not stone. I'm fine." She added before Jason could return to the subject of her being turned into stone. 

"Kim!" another voice shouted as Rocky pushed Jason out of the way and picked up the tiny gymnast. He immediately threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Tommy swallowed around a lump in his throat as a rather hefty amount of leg was displayed for the entire world to see. He began to wonder if she was wearing anything under that particular outfit. 

"I'm fine! I swear I'm fine! Put me down Rocky!" 

"No." He told her bluntly. She couldn't help but laugh at his facial expression, Rocky looked more like a stubborn child than a concerned friend. 

"This is the only way to keep you out of the trouble you always seem to attract," he added. 

"I agree. It's a good plan. I'll take the next shift." Jason added, ducking as Kim tried to get him with a right hook. 

"The only person who is going to attract trouble Rocko, is you if you don't put me down!" 

"Oh? And what form of trouble is that?" He asked levelly. 

"The kind that comes in shape of my foot kicking you in between the legs!" she threatened, kneeing him in the chest. Rocky grunted before setting her back down. 

"I do believe you might be serious." He grumbled, rubbing the spot where there would assuredly be a bruise. Kim was readjusting her outfit. 

"Since when did you start wearing so much white?" Trini asked, running up to them, not stopping until Kim was in her arms and being hugged tightly. Kim smiled, returning the embrace quite happily. 

"God don't do that to your best friend Kim. I was worried sick about you." Trini murmured softly. Kim gave the yellow ranger a tight squeeze as an apology. The two shared a look that simply said Kim would explain everything later in full detail. Trini offered her best friend a very soft serene smile. 

"I wasn't really given a choice in the matter of my outfit..." Kim finally trailed off before explaining all that she remembered, namely the stone army and waking up later and meeting Arthur. 

"Just don't put us through that again." Jason ordered. Kim smiled and linked arms with him. 

"I promise I will do my very best not to be turned into a statue." She told him with a smile as she crossed her heart. "I'd spit in my hand and offer to shake, but quite frankly I think that whole masculine ritual is disgusting." She added, receiving a grin from Jason for her trouble. 

Tommy had finally walked up to join the group, his eyes meeting Kim's. She offered him a shy tentative smile, he raised an eyebrow. Her smile faded after a moment and she looked away. Tommy immediately felt like an ass and wondered what the hell was wrong with him. However, before any of the rangers could say anything more, the man who had rescued Kim and the woman in red appeared. Kim offered Arthur a grin and he winked back at her. 

"We'd like to congratulate you on your getting this far. But it is only the first step of many in a long journey." The woman said quietly. Arthur merely smiled. 

"I'm sure you'll be fine though. However, we do have a few parting gifts for you before we send you on your way." 

"Gifts Arthur?" Kim asked curiously. His smile shifted into a grin. Tommy raised an eyebrow. 

"Alright. Weapons. We have weapons to give you." Arthur explained. Kim scrunched up her nose. 

"Come on Kim, aren't you excited? Big sharp pointy objects!" Rocky exclaimed, looking like Christmas had come early. Jason's face reflected the same sentiment. Kim rolled her eyes. The woman stopped in front of Trini, and suddenly a huge chain with a blade at either end appeared in her hands. Trini looked down in surprise. 

"For the snake, a weapon with just as much bite and surprise." A small pouch and a dart gun also appeared, "as well as a snake's venom." Trini eyed her new weapons curiously, before a rather satisfied smile graced her lips. The woman moved to Jason. Two sets of nunchaku appeared. 

"For the leopard, a weapon to match your speed and strength." kunai appeared as well, "and for your timing." 

She moved in front of Rocky and presented him a bo-staff, and huge shuriken. 

"The crane receives a bo to match his balance, and the shuriken to match his gift of flight." Rocky grinned and thanked her as he accepted his gifts. Kim's eyebrows furrowed at what she perceived as odd choices for who got which power. Who would ever think of Trini as a snake? Or of Rocky as a crane? Of course, who would ever think of her as the animal spirit she had received? 

Arthur stopped in front of Tommy and grinned at him. 

"I give you my sword. I trust you to take care of it and return it to me and I will be disappointed if I do not get it back." A large broadsword appeared which he passed over to the white ranger. Tommy's eyes widened in surprise at the gift. "I also give you a crossbow, generally 'cause they're cool as hell." Kim choked back a laugh. 

"Artie my darling you really need to work on your drama." The woman in red murmured, crossing her arms and pouting at him. 

"Look at it! Crossbows are cool as hell! Besides, you know I can't help it. I've already been accused of being corny today. I was trying not to over do it." Arthur flashed a roguish grin at Kim before turning back to Tommy. 

"With your new found strength you can use these easily. Go get 'em tiger." Arthur said, his grin broadening. The pink ranger did not miss the slight allusion to tigerdom and allowed herself a secretive smile as she remembered a time when she had mentioned wanting a knight on a white horse, and he had asked if she could make do with a white tiger. However, her reverie was cut short by Arthur who stepped in front of her. 

"And for you my dear, a bow and arrow as you're used to. And the girliest weapon we could possibly find since you were the pink ranger-" 

"-Arthur." The woman interrupted harshly, trying desperately to look annoyed and only succeeding in looking amused. 

"A fan!" He said as though he wasn't interrupted. Kimberly blinked at the object placed in her slack fingers. 

"A fan?" she asked dubiously, staring at it inquisitively. Arthur smirked. 

"All the more reason I am glad I am a man." He told her, hands going to his hips as he posed. Kim snapped the huge fan open, eyes widening as she realized the spines of the fan were metal, with sharpened points. She smirked. 

"Say that again Arthur?" she said grinning rather sadistically as she swung it in practice, rather liking the swishing sound it made. Arthur made a face. 

"They didn't tell me it was a scary fan." He grumbled. Kim rolled her eyes. The woman in red wisely perceived an argument forth coming and nipped it in the bud. 

"I'm sorry to cut this short but you must be on your way." With that the weaponry disappeared with a slight pop. "Your weapons will appear when you transform next. However, I warn you, do not transform while still on Earth. It would not be the wisest course of action. Good luck you five. I know you shall be successful." The woman in red murmured softly, gesturing to a swirling portal off to the side. "That will take you back to your command center. Walk through one at a time please." 

Trini thanked the two with a slight bow before attempting to walk through the portal. Jason stopped her, and went in first – ever the protector. Rocky followed. As Tommy was about to step through he heard Arthur very gently call Kimberly's name. He turned his head, noting that the older gentleman had leaned over and was whispering something in her ear. The woman had walked over to join them. Tommy raised an eyebrow curiously. What was going on here? 

Kim's head turned sharply as she looked at Arthur in shock, he gave her a slight nod looking very solemn. Even from his position he could see Kim pale before swallowing and nodding in return. Arthur leaned down and pressed a very soft kiss against Kim's forehead. Tommy just managed to catch what Kim told them even as he felt the vortex pulling him inside. 

"I understand. Thank you Arthur." And it was after that, Tommy was pulled through and back to the command center.

* * *

Tommy turned around as soon as he came out of the portal, waiting expectantly for Kim to appear. She did so a few moments later. 

"What were you and Arthur discussing?" Tommy asked curiously, rather surprised at the very protective feeling in his stomach. Something told him that whatever Arthur had said was not pleasant, and would not be good for Kimberly. He tried to shove down all instincts demanding he do whatever he could to protect her. Kim looked up at him in slight surprise. 

"He told me about a special technique involving my powers." She explained after a moment's pause. "I'm fairly certain we all have elemental powers along with our enhanced abilities. Mine's fire. He mentioned being able to use the fan with it." Kim looked down at her outfit and scrunched up her nose. 

"I wish we had gotten our clothes back." She grumbled softly, gesturing to the white dress. Tommy would have gone back to the subject at hand, as he was fairly certain she wasn't telling the entire truth, but had no chance as Zordon called over the five teens. Even as Adam, Kat, Billy, Zach and Aisha appeared in the command center. 

"Power Rangers! You're just in time. Serpentara has been repaired, and it is stronger than ever. This time, I highly doubt we will be fortunate enough to have it run out of power. You will have to fight it and destroy it for once and for all." 

"We understand Zordon." Tommy replied, stepping forward. Kim looked at the six rangers as they transformed, calling out to their individual powers. 

"Be safe you guys." She murmured quietly, smiling, "I'm not going to worry because I know you'll kick butt." The six disappeared in flashes of color even as the four teens remaining immediately turned to look at the viewing globe. 

"Damn I wish I was out there helping." Jason grumbled after a few moments of silence, shaking his head, "I feel so useless." Kim's hands tightened into fists as she watched the power rangers get blasted with a powerful attack of flames, Tommy immediately running to protect Kat and help her up. She sighed as her eyes went down to the medallion around her neck. What good were her new powers if she couldn't use them to help save her friends? 

"You've at least had practice with seeing your uniform on someone else." Rocky replied, watching as the teens called to their zords, Zach jumping in his and comfortably falling into the position of second of command. Rocky shook his head and rolled his eyes. 

"We didn't have cable. No chance of watching anything on the news about the rangers unless it was 30 second clips." Trini replied with a small shrug. The four teens kept their eyes glued to the viewing globe. Kim couldn't face it. She turned away from the screen and instead sat down in one of the corners of the room, hugging her knees to her chest contemplating all that had happened in the past few hours? Days? Weeks? She lifted up her pendant, eyeing it curiously. Her fingers trailed over it, memorizing the contours of the design. A few moments later Jason sat down next to her. 

"I just can't force myself to watch." She murmured softly as explanation, refusing to meet his gaze. Jason merely wrapped an arm around her shoulders. 

"I think I'd rather keep you company anyways. Chances are I'd punch something in frustration and knowing my luck it'd be the viewing globe. Then we'd really be worried." Jason cracked. Kim chuckled at the thought. 

"Makes me think of all of my things you broke on accident when we were kids. You had major anger management issues," Kim replied brightly, smirking at him. Jason made a face. 

"I did not break anything…" 

"Oh yes you did," She interrupted, "what about my Barbie California Girl pink 4X4 Beach Jeep with moveable rearview mirror and plastic seatbelts? You shoved it under one of the wheels of your Dad's truck." 

"I did that on purpose," The red ranger told her mischievously. Kim smacked him and he laughed, "besides, you got back at me by offering up my GI Joes to your brother who used them as targets when he got his air gun." 

"Oh don't even try to act like you didn't think the bullets and missing legs were cool. You especially liked the GI Joe who got one of the pellets lodged in his eye," Kim retorted. 

"I still have that GI Joe somewhere," Jason replied offhandedly. 

"Stop rubbing it in," She growled. A few minutes later Trini walked over, sitting down in front of Kim and looking at the two. 

"We're trying not to think of our best friends fighting for their lives while we're stuck doing nothing," Jason explained. 

"Yes. So we're reminiscing about Barbie." Kim added, only to get tickled in retaliation by Jason. Kim let out a high pitched shriek. Trini raised an eyebrow and bit her lip to keep from laughing. 

"The pink Barbie California Girl 4X4 Beach jeep?" Trini asked trying to keep a straight face. 

"I didn't think you were around when that happened Trini," Jason said, tilting his head curiously. Trini's expression was wry in the extreme when she answered. 

"That's because I wasn't. However the story is a little infamous." 

"I was a little bitter," Kim grumbled under her breath, scowling at her two friends who were laughing at her expense. 

"So that's why Trini avoided me like the plague when she first moved here," Jason murmured, stroking his chin. Trini winked. 

"You were an evil toy destroyer." 

"Are we having a floor party? Am I invited?" Rocky asked, flopping down next to Trini and stretching out like a cat. 

"As far as I can tell, the others are holding their own against Zedd, and he's about to lose his little toy." 

"I really wouldn't call it little, Rocky," Kim murmured. 

"Think he's compensating for something?" Trini added. Kim burst out laughing even as Rocky and Jason looked at Trini as though she were from another planet, obviously not expecting perversion from the first yellow ranger. 

"I think Jonathan's gotten to your head Trini," Kim said with a gleeful little smile, "but now that you mention it. Serpentera is rather… large. And you know what they say about men with large zords," Kim trailed off. Trini and Kim eyed Rocky and Jason curiously, their gazes going below the belt. 

"Finish that sentence pink ranger and I'll bring out the photos of you in that skin tight pair of hotpants when you and Billy became 'punks,'" Jason warned. Kim promptly shut up, but did stick her tongue out at him in retribution. Rocky just looked confused. 

'I'll show you later Rocky." 

"You wouldn't dare!" Kim immediately growled wiggling out from Jason's arm and turning to glare at him, narrowing her eyes. Jason smirked. 

"Why Kim…something you're ashamed of? Skin tight hotpants?" Rocky asked brightly. 

"Hot pink ones. You think the spandex of the pink ranger suit leaves nothing to the imagination? Wait till you see her in the hot pants. Tell me Kim, what was that doing in your closet in the first place?" Kim let out a low growl and immediately tackled Jason, wrestling with him. Rocky coughed as the white outfit Kim was wearing slowly came undone. Trini promptly smacked Rocky upside the head for being a pervert. Rocky immediately tickled the yellow ranger, who surprisingly shrieked and retaliated by poking his stomach. Upon finding he was ticklish there, Trini attacked ruthlessly, that is until Kim ducked behind Trini to escape from Jason. Jason ended up tackling Trini by accident. After that, it was every man for himself as the four teens fought on the floor, wrestling, tickling and any other sort of dirty trick one could use to try and get the upper hand in a battle. Alpha looked over and let out one of his customary "Ai yi yi!"s which was followed by Adam asking, 

"What on earth are you guys doing?" The four teens on the floor froze as though they'd been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Kim cleared her throat and stood up as she looked at the six rangers all looking battle weary but triumphant. Aisha just looked amused, Adam looked confused, Zach was laughing, Tommy couldn't seem to take his eyes off the robe which had slipped slightly to bare one of Kim's small shoulders, and from the expression on Kat's face it was obvious she thought the four of them should be shoved into a mental institution. 

"Uh...we were-" Kim started out as she fixed the robe, cinching it tightly closed, only to be interrupted by Rocky 

"Well you see-" Rocky was interrupted by Jason who merely let his sentence trail off as he tried to consider how to state what exactly had happened and why they hadn't' been acting like good worried stressed out friends clambering in front of the viewing globe. 

"It all happened when…" 

"Barbies," Trini finally said as she stood, touching up her mussed up hair. 

"Care to explain?" Kat asked curiously. Zach groaned. 

"Oh God. Jason and Kim got into one of their arguments about that California Barbie 4X4 pink beach jeep didn't they?" Zach grumbled. 

Aisha immediately brightened. "I remember that story!" She exclaimed. Adam nodded in comprehension. 

"This is the story about the toy that got smashed under Jason's parents' truck?" He asked. Tommy nodded in confirmation even as Aisha wagged a finger at Jason. 

"You really shouldn't have destroyed it you know." Jason turned to look at Kim. 

"How long exactly have you been holding this grudge against me?" He demanded. Kim smiled. 

"I thought I'd just let everyone know what type of guy you were." She said innocently, tapping her two index fingers together. 

"What'd you do, publish it in a paper?" 

"Well I tried but they didn't think it really had the right substance for an editorial…" Kim trailed off. 

Jason shook his head. "Thank God for that." 

"But I did call in to a radio talk show host." She added as an afterthought. Rocky looked over at Adam. 

"Note to self, never ever destroy any of Kim's things on purpose." 

"Agreed." 

"Damn girl. You really know how to hold a grudge," Aisha murmured. Kimberly just smiled ingenuously. 

"Rangers," Zordon called, nine of the rangers walking back over to face him. Billy had been pulled aside by Alpha, before nodding and disappearing. 

"Aisha, Adam, Zach, Kat, and Tommy, you did very well today. I commend you for a job well done. Zedd will not have the strength to attack the earth for quite a while now." They smiled at each other. And now that this crisis is over, I believe that it is time for Kimberly, Tommy, Jason, Trini and Rocky to be on their way." Kim let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. She gave Aisha a tight hug before Zach pulled the tiny gymnast into a bear hug, lifting her off her feet for a second. She let out a squeak as all the air was pushed out of her body. As soon as Zach has put her down, Adam walked up, smiled shyly and pressed a very gentle kiss against her cheek. The second pink ranger was last, coming to stand in front of her. The two pink rangers looked at each other for a moment before hugging each other tightly. 

"Take care of him Kim." Kat whispered very softly. 

"I will," Kimberly promised fiercely, Kat smiled at that and pulled away. Once all the wishes for luck, safety and general goodbyes were done, Kat, Aisha and Zach disappeared. Kimberly frowned, wondering where Billy was as she did want to say good bye to him as well, but before she could dwell upon the subject Jason brought up something she hadn't considered before. 

"Where exactly are we going and how exactly are we getting there?" He asked curiously. Zordon smiled. 

"Alpha?" 

"Right away Zordon. If you'll follow me rangers," Alpha called, leading them outside of the command center, to a giant space ship sitting innocently amongst the rocks, a very gentle hum proving it was on and ready to go. 

"Alpha…" Rocky trailed off. 

"Yes Rocky?" Alpha asked. 

"Why are we saving the universe in a copy of the Millennium Falcon?"

* * *

Okay there has been some confusion about what I said in my authors notes in the last chapter. This was the last chapter of the story ARC. I was just tying up the loose ends and getting them off the bloody island and back on Earth, then off Earth so they could go save the universe. _This is by no means the end of the story. _ There are many more chapters to come. Sorry about the lack of Tommy/Kimness in this chapter. I'll try for more in the upcoming ones. I was also thinking that I'm going to try and have a chapter done every three weeks. I don't know if this means it'll be updated every three weeks since my beta has to review it and go through all my evil little grammar issues. But it still means that I'll probably pump out the chapters faster. Hopefully. Since I can't see in the future I really have no idea if I can keep up with that schedule. Wish me luck! Keep those reviews coming! More reviews more incentive for me to get next chapter out. XD /end shameless begging for reviews See you next time!  
- Gel 


	11. A little turbulance

There's nothing I can really say except I'm so sorry that it has taken so long to update. I've had this chapter written for a while, but nothing else so I was holding onto it until I could start the next chapter. However, that obviously didn't happen. So I will do my damndest to get over this awful writers block and actually finish this fic. I absolutely want to finish this fic, and more than anything I want to finish it well. So thank you so much to those who have stuck by me this long. I appreciate it more than you can know. Thanks… - Gelasia

Chapter 11

"Alpha, why are we saving the world in the Millennium Falcon?"

"Positive reinforcement. I wanted you to travel in something you would be familiar with, so I sent the alliance a few models of this well known space craft," the robot replied. Kim tried really hard not to wonder whether or not this meant Alpha also had a C3-PO look alike stored somewhere in the command center.

"Familiar sure, but I somehow doubt any of us know how to drive this.." Trini murmured thoughtfully. All of the teens jumped as the ship started up, a loud clang echoed through the area as the loading ramp slowly lowered, revealing the entrance to the spacecraft.

"That's why I'm here," a voice called from the loading ramp.

"Billy?" Trini asked, surprised. Billy grinned as he spread his arms out to emphasize his clothes – a copy of Harrison Ford's costume in the famous space trilogy.

"Just call me Han Solo."

"Nuh uh.. you need an hour with a hairstylist, bad ass attitude pills, and a seven foot wookie Billy," Kim told him with a small smile. It only took her a moment to realize everyone was staring at her in silent shock.

"What? It wasn't that insulting. Billy's a fantastic guy, but Han Solo he ain't."

"Kim… you hate Star Wars. It was too geeky for you. Tommy tried to get you watch it once but noooo… you would have none of it." Rocky reminded her. Kim smiled sheepishly.

"Jonathan got me to watch it."

"My respect for that man just increased. Anyone who can get valley girl Kim to watch ultimate Scifi has talent," Rocky remarked offhandedly. Kim scowled at him, Tommy just scowled at everyone.

"I am not a valley girl!"

"Oh please. You and Aisha went shopping daily," Rocky retorted, Kim was about to snap back when she noticed Tommy's darkening eyes, he was trying to hide his anger about something. Her not watching Star wars with him? Her brows furrowed for a moment.

"Well," she finally said in a loud voice, she paused before clearing her throat and trying again at a more normal volume, "had any of you mentioned how sexy Harrison Ford's derrière was, I might have been more willing to watch it. For all I knew, it was about some sister kissing feeb who whined through the whole three movies," she said with a bright grin amidst all of the groans, Han Solo's rear had been the first thing Jonathan had mentioned. Jason and Rocky looked at each other.

"Valley girl," They said in unison. Kim smacked both of them upside their heads.

"Well now that we've been reacquainted with the dark thoughts inhabiting Kimmy's mind, can we get a tour of this thing? It looks bigger than the one in the movies.." Rocky said. Billy grinned.

"I'm pleased you noticed Rocky. Wait until you see the inside… it's straight out of a fifties sitcom, I believe Alpha used Leave it to Beaver for inspiration. Apparently they wanted it to look comfortable. "

Later after all of the rangers had gotten acquainted with the ship, the computer that served as a kitchen, grocery store and cook all in one named Lola, the two large training rooms – one for powers, one for martial arts - the main lounge, and the four bedrooms they regrouped in the cockpit for the launch. Zordon had told them to try and be as fast as possible; they were on a bit of a time schedule.

"I call co-pilot spot!" Kim shouted before flopping into the seat.

"She look like a wookie to you?" Rocky stage whispered as he sat behind her.

"Too short.. but with a little more hair… and she could be an Ewok," Jason whispered back.

"Shush. I may not have been into all those space movie mumbo jumbo, but I did pilot all flying zords for my entire power rangers career, as well as an airplane. I can handle this baby, wookie or not." Billy laughed.

"Thanks Kim. I could use the help." Kim beamed. Billy sat down and instructed everyone to strap in with the warning that leaving the atmosphere might be slightly turbulent. A few buttons were pushed and suddenly the engine roared to life. The ship jerked as they took off, jerking a bit as they lifted off the ground. There were a few muttered apologies from Billy. The ship continued shaking badly as they rocketed towards the sky.

"Please tell me this Falcon works better than her namesake…" Jason muttered, as the group pitched forward.

"Alpha said the engineers who made this weren't very familiar with our atmosphere and its effects on extraterrestrial ships. It'll be smooth sailing after this," Billy paused, "I hope."

"Not the most encouraging thing you could have said Billy," Trini reminded him gently. He looked back to grin at her.

"No, but it was the most honest."

"Billy! Keep your eyes on the road!" Billy shrugged and turned back.

"Jesus Tommy, even in a spaceship you're a terrible backseat driver, what do you think we're going to do? Crash into the oncoming traffic?" Jason teased with a roll of his eyes. Trini and Rocky snickered. The ship continued to shake as they blasted through the atmosphere. Billy was offering quiet explanations of the different controls to anyone who would listen – his audience really consisting of only Kim.

The ride immediately smoothed out once they broke through, the ship turning slightly with the force of Earth's gravity.

"Look how beautiful Earth is.." Trini whispered.

"Kind of daunting to think that's what we've sworn to protect. It makes you feel so incredibly… small. Six billion people living on that planet? Protected by six?"

This could be the last time I ever see the Earth," Kim thought to herself, hands curling up into fists, a small ache forming in the pit of her stomach.

"Well luckily, we're on the outer edge of our milky way – it makes traveling to other galaxies a lot shorter," Billy said brightly as he typed in coordinates of some sort on a keypad that had popped out.

"Well there's no more need to be buckled up. I'm hungry and am going to go ask Lola for some grub," Rocky chirped brightly, hopping up and dashing out.

"Why do I get the feeling Lola's Rocky's new best friend?" Kim asked dryly.

"Probably because we have a twelve year supply of food and she takes requests?" Trini replied with a small giggle.

"I'm gonna go check out the training room, see if I can figure out how to use my new powers," Jason announced.

"I'll come too," Tommy added, the two leaving the room. Kim and Trini shared a long, knowing look.

"Five bucks says they gossip more than they train," Trini announced. Kimberly tried to keep a solemn poker face.

"Too easy. Give me something with better odds…" Kim said seriously. Trini tapped her chin thoughtfully before both girls shared grins.

"Well we know Rocky's going to live in the kitchen, and it'll be days before we see Tommy and Jason emerge from the training room-"

"- and after they emerge we'll avoid them due to the smell," Kim interrupted."Exactly," Trini said, not fazed in the least by being interrupted, "so what shall we do?" Kim smiled weakly.

"Go browse that vast DVD library in the lounge for our favorite chick flicks?" Trini grinned. Kim's eyes brightened in sudden comprehension.

"Alfred Hitchcock night?"

"Oh yeah baby…"

"How exactly do Alfred Hitchcock films equate to chick flicks?" Billy inquired, "aren't chick flicks usually romantic comedy starring the latest, youngest most fashionable actresses of the time?"

"Billy, once you've seen Cary Grant, you will understand," Trini replied.

"Well Billy is a boy, perhaps he can't understand the beauty that is Cary Grant…"

"This is true.." Trini mused. However, Billy had already turned back to the controls, focusing on them, apparently he had tuned out the girls. Trini and Kim shared another long knowing look. Boys simply couldn't appreciate Cary Grant.

"I'll come back to learn more when he's not so busy," Kim murmured as they scooted out of the cockpit.

"So which one of us is going to fight Rocky for Lola's attention in order to secure popcorn for our Cary Grant mission?"

"Flip you for it."

"Hey you," Kim said, popping back into the cockpit a couple of hours later. Billy jumped in slight surprise, but he did offer her a welcoming smile.

"Done watching Alfred Hitchcock films for the evening?"

"We didn't want to overdose on Cary Grant goodness," Kimberly replied, failing as she tried to keep a straight face. She gestured to the co-pilot spot, "can I sit?"

"Sure sure. I'd like the company."

"You mean you won't go into zoned out Billy's thinking mode?" she teased. Billy had the grace to look sheepish.

"I was a little worried about getting out of our atmosphere, past all the radiation from the sun and so forth.

"So where are we now?" she asked.

"Just passing Saturn," Billy said, pointing out the window. Kim blinked in surprise.

"How on earth are we going so fast?" she demanded. Billy took a deep breath.

"Er.. well…"

"Do I really want to know? Or the better question is, will I understand the answer?" she asked.

"It's anti-gravity. Earthlings haven't figured out how to do it, but the other races have. It works a bit like a magnet where two same charges repel each other, that makes us go forward at a ridiculous speed."

"I thought that didn't exist… yes I did take an astronomy class," Kim said with a small wink. Billy laughed..

"Humans haven't discovered it yet. There's a lot about the universe we don't know about. See we still thing that an object can never go as fast as light speed, it can only approach it. But the real question is, does gravity have speed, or is it infinite?"

"So… we're going at the speed of gravity?" Kim asked. Billy nodded.

"In a sense," he hesitated, not sure whether or not he should clarify about warp holes that were also used to travel great distances. Kim held up a hand.

"No need, I'm not going to take my chances on trying to understand any more. I'm surprised I got this far. Either I'm getting smarter or you're actually making sense" she teased. Billy had the grace to blush.

"I became a TA my sophomore year so I had to learn how to explain things in a simplified manner." Kim laughed.

"You had to dumb it up for the general populace."

"Affirmative," he replied before his attention was drawn to the small map on one of the many screens filling the cockpit.

"Luckily, we're going to the Andromeda Galaxy, it's a very close system, and that's where all of the planets and the planetary alliance are. Too far for humans to detect planets or life on, but not too far to stay in good contact with for Zordon at least," Billy gestured to the map, pointing out their location now and their destination. There was silence as Kimberly took that in.

"So when do I get to fly this baby?" she suddenly asked, rubbing her hands together with relish.

"Right now if you like, but I should warn you that after take off, it practically flies itself until landing," he replied, leaning back, arms going to rest behind his head. She grinned as she took over the controls, getting used to the feel of flying something – even if she had never done any flying like this before. Anti-gravity indeed. She nibbled on her lower lip, concentrating fiercely on learning the nuances of the ship's movements. Billy watched in approval. After a long comfortable period of silence, Kim smiled thoughtfully as she looked around the small room.

"It would have been awesome if they had made this look like the central command from the enterprise instead of the actual one from the Falcon… although I suppose it needs a larger team of people to keep it running than the Falcon does.."

"How much do you think the others would pay to know you used to watch Star Trek with me when we were kids?" Kim laughed.

"Not as much as I'd pay you to keep quiet. I have a valley girl rep to uphold."

"No one believed you were a valley girl…" Kim raised an eyebrow at that. Billy grinned sheepishly.

"Well, once they got to know you," he amended.

"And I suppose you weren't such a geek once I brushed up my vocabulary and could understand what the heck you were saying half of the time as opposed to only a fourth of the time."

"Well how come you never played translator for me?" he demanded in mock annoyance.

"Trini enjoyed it too much, plus it would have ruined my image. _Plus_ Tommy could be a rather jealous boyfriend…"

"That's putting it lightly," Billy snorted, "did you know we got a lecture from him about how we were supposed to act around you?"

"A lecture?" Kim demanded," you have got to be joking."

"I believe it was something along the lines of that although he loved us all like brothers, if we so much as looked at you the wrong way we would enjoy the rest of our lives as eunuchs."

"He didn't…" she said looking horrified, Billy merely gave her a look. "Did he give this lecture to everyone?" she demanded finally.

"I do seem to recall him dragging off Rocky and Adam when they joined the team,"

"He didn't!"

"He did."

"So that's why Adam and Rocky gave me a wide berth when they first joined… I'll kill him." Kim grumbled, starting to stand up in order to beat up the boy. Billy laughed, tugging on her arm to make her sit back down.

"It became more of a joke once the relationship had settled a bit. Especially after he had been the white ranger for a while and the relationship was stronger. Jason gave him hell about it in the beginning. He used to try and nettle him with the casual arm around your shoulders or the casual wink.."

"I'm killing both of them," she decided, before grinning, "or even better I'll get even," her eyes glinted with mischief.

"I think I might have done it too if the flirting wouldn't have been real on my part," Billy murmured thoughtfully. It took several moments for Kim to comprehend the full meaning of what Billy had just said. Even then there was a part of her brain that didn't want to believe it.

"Billy you… you didn't like me like that," she said very slowly, trying to reassure herself she had just misinterpreted.

"I did," at her horrified guilty look he chuckled, "relax, the feelings are totally gone. I.. I like someone else now. I realize it never would have worked. Although I had hoped you would have been my first kiss." She was quiet for a long while, taking all of this shocking information in.

"Who was your first kiss then?" Kim finally asked, trying to keep the conversation casual. Billy blushed rather sheepishly and didn't respond. Realization dawned on her.

"You haven't…?" she trailed off when he shook his head. The two were again silent. Her mind was reeling, she couldn't seem to think past the swirling emotions of surprise, the small thrill that always came when one learned someone had liked her, and an overwhelming guilt. How could she not have noticed? Was she really that oblivious to the universe and that self centered? She noticed Billy looking over every once and a while, and eventually leaned over to pat her hand. She glanced over at him and finally her mind came to a decision.

Kim took a deep breath and leaned over, pressing a chaste kiss against his mouth. She allowed her lips to linger on his for a few long moments before pulling back. Billy slowly opened his eyes and smiled at her slightly worried expression.

"Don't worry Kim, we're still just friends. But thank you," he whispered softly. She smiled in relief, the tense muscles in her shoulders relaxing.

"Now if you don't mind I think I'll go take a nap and leave the falcon in your hands, don't crash her into any asteroids."

"As if I would!" she called after him before turning back to the controls, "I'd much prefer to crash her into a comet," she muttered.

Tommy's head was reeling. He had been planning to ask Billy about their estimated time of arrival when he had turned the corner towards the cockpit and had the shock of his life. Kim and Billy – kissing? Each other? What the… He had immediately spun on his heel and walked away, into the nearest room. Anything to just escape that particular scene, to pretend it hadn't happened. He had ended up in the common room, where he found Trini and Jason sitting on the couch, Trini sprawled out, her legs comfortably resting on Jason's lap as he lounged like a panther, arms stretched out on the back of the couch, feet propped up on the coffee table. They were laughing about something, but quieted when he walked in.

"Something wrong bro?" Jason asked, raising an eyebrow at the look of shock on his best friend's face. Tommy swallowed and shook his head.

"You're looking a little pale…" Trini added, sitting up. Before he could answer, Billy walked in, grinning from ear to ear.

"Salutations from the cock pit," Billy said as he pulled up a chair to sit by the couch. Tommy's fingers curled in a fist, and he couldn't seem to unclench his jaw. Trini grinned upon seeing the blue ranger.

"Hi Billy!"

"Uh.. Billy if you're out here, then who is driving this thing?" Jason asked slowly, wondering if he should be nervous. Billy laughed.

"Never worry, I left the ship in Kim's capable hands. She's not going to crash us into anything," he replied, stretching his arms up over his head and yawning. Tommy coughed, trying to disguise his snort of disgust. Right, capable hands. It was only through sheer will power he didn't punch Billy in the nose.

"I needed a break those drives through atmo are difficult, in fact I think I may go nap. Goodnight everyone." He left to a chorus of "Goodnight Billy" from the pair on the couch. Tommy stared after him a long time after he had left, fists periodically clenching and unclenching.

"You okay Tommy?" Trini asked in concern. His head snapped to look at her, eyes darkening.

"Fine. Just fine." He replied curtly before walking out. Jason and Trini looked at each other before shrugging.

"So how do you feel about musically inclined pirates?"


End file.
